NAB to take AU$1.14 billion hit to its first-half net profit
Summary
The revised numbers follow a week after rival Westpac announced that new and expected provisions and asset write-downs would total AU$1.43 billion and result in a reduced first half year 2020 net profit after tax. Westpac detailed how part of the total expected provisions included AU$1.03 billion that would be related to Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (Austrac) proceedings. Specifically, the bank has set aside AU$900 million to pay for expected fines, after the anti-money laundering and terrorism financing regulator applied to the Federal Court of Australia alleging Westpac was involved in "systemic non-compliance" with the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 on over 23 million occasions. "In addition to closing relevant products and recruiting an additional 200 people in financial crime and compliance, I am putting in place a clearer accountability regime that will speed up decision making, improve implementation and more clearly define responsibility and its associated risk management," he said. Westpacs earnings will also be impacted by a AU$70 million write-down on "software costs and physical assets", which it blames on COVID-19.