National Australia Bank to Strengthen AML/CTF Compliance After AUSTRAC’s Investigation

AUSTRAC has accepted an enforceable undertaking from National Australia Bank (NAB) to uplift its compliance with Australia's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) laws.

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The action follows an AUSTRAC enforcement investigation which identified concerns about NAB's AML/CTF program, systems and controls.

AUSTRAC identified non-compliance in targeted compliance assessments, as well as through self-disclosures from NAB. AUSTRAC notified NAB of the formal enforcement investigation into five NAB reporting entities in June 2021, following ongoing regulatory engagement. The entities are National Australia Bank Limited, JBWere Limited, Wealthhub Securities Limited, Medfin Australia Pty Ltd, and AFSH Nominees Pty Ltd.

NAB has undertaken to implement a comprehensive remedial action plan, which will see improvements to its systems, controls and record-keeping, including:

• ​the NAB designated business group AML/CTF Program

• ​applicable customer identification procedures

• ​customer risk assessment and enhanced customer due diligence

• ​transaction monitoring

• ​governance and assurance.

AUSTRAC will monitor NAB's progress to ensure that actions are taken within the timeframes, and maintain regular, ongoing discussions with NAB. An independent auditor will report to AUSTRAC annually on progress, with the final report to be provided to AUSTRAC by March 2025.