Among other things,Apollo involves the examinination of hundreds of thousands of customer profiles that have been identified as problematic,with the aims of deleting duplicate accounts and debanking high-risk customers,according to multiple sources familiar with the project who requested anonymity because they were not authorised to speak about it publicly.
The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC)sent a letter to NAB last Friday to notify the bank of an escalation of its investigation into potential serious and ongoing non-compliance with anti-money laundering laws.
The letter came amid heightened concerns within financial institutions about anti-money laundering (AML) compliance,with both Westpac and CBA hit with stiff penalties from AUSTRAC in recent years following breaches.
NAB chief Ross McEwan this weekacknowledged the need for further improvement in the bank’s approach to financial crime and pointed to the $800 million invested in these operations since 2017.
But JPMorgan analysts said the AUSTRAC announcement suggested NAB’s investment “has not been sufficient to lift its capability to the desired level”,and the need to invest more in the area could limit Mr McEwan’s ability to cut costs. Citigroup analysts also said higher costs at NAB were “inevitable”.
Sources familiar with Project Apollo described it as a “huge” remediation project. “The head count is massive,it takes up at least a third of the current financial crime workforce at the moment,” one source said.
Former NAB staff have said it is common to find bank accounts with falsified identification documents and incorrect personal information,including country of residence or occupation,which creates major red flags for complying with anti-money laundering laws.