Austrac progresses NAB money-laundering probe
Austrac has progressed its investigation into National Australia Bank’s compliance with anti-money laundering legislation, sending an information request to the bank.
Business
Don't miss out on the headlines from Business. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Austrac’s anti-money laundering investigation into National Australia Bank has progressed, with the lender currently drafting answers to a number of questions posed by the enforcement division of the financial intelligence agency.
“We will see where it goes from here,” chief executive Ross McEwan told Labor Party MP Andrew Leigh in a House economics committee hearing on Thursday.
NAB announced in June that Austrac had referred concerns about potential AML breaches to its enforcement division.
Mr McEwan also confirmed on Thursday that Project Apollo was a “huge” three-year remediation project, with a further year or more to go, to ensure compliance with “know your customer” requirements.
The project, he said, still had some work to do to achieve full compliance and the bank’s objective of getting the right data into the right place.
Reports have said Apollo involves an examination of hundreds of thousands of customer profiles identified as problematic, with the aim of deleting duplicate accounts and debanking high-risk customers.
Consulting firm Accenture has been called in to help with the project.
In a testy exchange with LNP backbencher Julian Simmonds, Mr McEwan repeatedly stressed that NAB “absolutely” took its AML obligations seriously.
He said the bank had spent $800m on AML compliance over the last 3-4 years, with about 1200 people working on AML and know-your customer issues.
The NAB boss, however, declined to go into detail about Austrac’s concerns, saying it would wait to see what emerged from the regulator’s information request.
Mr Simmonds responded that NAB’s best endeavours were not good enough.
He cited reports of a backlog in suspicious transaction reporting, the bank losing people at a “rapid” rate, and a failure to update customer account information dating back 20 years.
Mr McEwan said NAB was only looking for a handful of people to fill about 20 vacant positions, and institutions all around the world were finding it difficult to get qualified people for regulatory compliance roles.
More Coverage
Originally published as Austrac progresses NAB money-laundering probe
Qatar Airways takes bold tech step with video call ability
Qatar Airways is claiming a new first in the skies, becoming the only international airline to allow passengers to make video calls or hold Zoom meetings.
Whyalla steelworks losing $1m a day but Gupta’s defiant
Sanjeev Gupta says his broader business has been propping up the Whyalla operations to the tune of $1m a day which is a sign of the commitment he has to the South Australian steel town.
Why an Aussie banker landed a key role in this succession drama
This former Melbourne boy and Wall Street boss is now in charge of steering Disney through one of the toughest succession stories in corporate America.
Lessons learnt from mixing business with pleasure
If Richard White had been granted a court suppression order his private life would have stayed private but he didn’t – and the fallout is a lesson for people in positions of power.
Administration the go-to rescue plan for growing number of execs
The number of Australian executives putting their companies into voluntary administration in a bid to turn their flagging fortunes around is growing, ASIC figures show.
‘I know you’re hurting’: Nine’s news boss addresses staff
The head of Nine’s news and current affairs division has sent an after-hours email acknowledging the pain employees are suffering following reports of bullying, sexual harassment and misconduct.