AUSTRAC’s crackdown on violations of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism obligations has extended from casino operators to the banking sector, with National Australia Bank
(ASX:NAB) coming under scrutiny by the financial law enforcement agency.
The big-four bank received a notification from AUSTRAC on June 4, highlighting allegedly questionable areas of NAB’s customer identification and due diligence processes. The addressed concerns represent potential breaches of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws.
The financial crime watchdog has stayed in close contact with NAB to monitor the financial institution’s compliance management. AUSTRAC sounded the alarm and launched a formal investigation in the wake of findings from NAB’s half-year report.
The financial intelligence agency has yet to issue a verdict on the severity of the alleged infringements and make a decision on the appropriate regulatory action
NAB has reaffirmed the bank is committed to cooperating with AUSTRAC’s investigative operations and abiding by financial crime laws.
NAB Chief Executive Ross McEwan spoke of the $91 billion corporation’s stance on tackling financial crime, “NAB takes its financial crime obligations seriously. We are very aware that we need to further improve our performance in relation to these matters. We have been working to improve and clearly have more to do,”
NAB has dedicated an $800 million budget to financial crime prevention and fraud deterrence efforts over the past four years.
Shares in NAB
(ASX:NAB) are trading 3.1 per cent lower at $26.67
