Balance the right to privacy with stamping out organised crime: NAB

One of Australia’s largest banks has urged the federal government to balance protecting people’s personal data with detecting and stamping out organised crime when it unveils sweeping reforms to privacy laws.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus this year is expected to legislate changes to the decades-old Privacy Act, after a review by his department recommended 116 changes to better protect Australians’ personal information.

Paul Jevtovic has implored the federal government to strike the right balance on its privacy reforms.Credit: Oscar Colman

National Australia Bank executive money laundering and reporting officer Paul Jevtovic, who was formerly head of financial intelligence regulator AUSTRAC, said the biggest threat to organised crime was governments working in tandem with the private sector.

“We’re dealing with a combatant that has the access to the best technologies; faster than we can probably embrace it,” Jevtovic told this masthead. “They are moralless, lawless, jurisdictionless. So, there’s our starting point, and here we are trying to combat them within the laws we have, with the finite resources we have, and of course, endeavouring to protect our way of life.”

Under the proposed new laws, Australians would gain the right to sue for privacy invasion, avoid being targeted by firms using sensitive personal information and demand companies erase their data. Small businesses with an annual turnover of $3 million or less, which are currently exempt from being required to protect personal information, would have to comply with the law.

The issue of privacy came to a head in late 2022 when major hacks at Optus and Medibank compromised the personal data of millions of Australians.

Jevtovic said new laws that better enable the sharing of information between the private and public sector would put the country in a stronger position.

“Organised crime has the ability to buy data that can tell them who they [vulnerable people] are, and there’s the risk that we need to continuously protect,” he said.

“We need to continue to do everything we can to safeguard data. Data is an answer to many of the challenges we face in the world today. So, it’s always about balance. How do we get that balance right?”

Jevtovic joined NAB in mid-2021 from HSBC in Hong Kong, where he was regional head of money laundering reporting and head of financial crime, after leaving AUSTRAC in 2017.

His appointment came days after AUSTRAC warned NAB it had “serious concerns” about the bank’s compliance with anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing laws.

Unlike Commonwealth Bank and Westpac, which received fines and penalties totalling $2 billion for failing to report customers’ suspicious transactions, NAB entered into an enforceable undertaking with the regulator in 2022.

Almost two years on, NAB has completed about three-quarters of its remedial action plan, which involved upgrading its systems to comply with anti-money laundering and counterterrorism legislation.

“The enforceable undertaking has been, if you like, the foundation of significant reform at NAB around how we contribute to protecting the nation from financial crime, protecting our customers and our bank,” Jevtovic said.

“Significant investment has and continues to be made, not just buying technology but in the calibre of people.”

Under the terms of the court-enforceable agreement, NAB must complete its remedial action plan by December 31. An independent auditor has been reporting to AUSTRAC annually on the bank’s progress, with the final report to be provided by March 2025.

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