The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has imposed a A$50 million operational risk capital add-on and additional licence conditions on ING Bank Australia after finding material breaches of the bank's liquidity requirements, the regulator announced on 3 September 2026. The action ranks among the more significant enforcement steps taken by APRA against a mid-tier lender in recent years.
APRA also raised the Sydney-based lender's minimum liquidity requirements and directed it to commission an independent review of its risk management, governance and culture. The regulator confirmed that ING Bank Australia remains well capitalised despite the enforcement action, an important signal for depositors and counterparties.
LCR MISCALCULATIONS OVER SEVERAL YEARS
APRA said its findings related to miscalculations of the Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) over several years. According to the regulator, ING Bank Australia reported an LCR of around 160% when the true figure was substantially lower, and at times the ratio actually fell below the 100% minimum required under the prudential standard. The magnitude of the misstatement, spanning several years of reporting periods, was material and formed the basis for the regulator's enforcement package.
The LCR is the core high-frequency liquidity measure applied to Australian authorised deposit-taking institutions, designed to ensure banks hold sufficient high-quality liquid assets to withstand a 30-day stress scenario. Falling below the 100% minimum, even intermittently, is a material breach of the prudential framework and one that regulators take particularly seriously given the role liquidity plays in preserving financial stability.
APRA said ING Bank Australia self-notified the issues in July 2026, triggering the regulator's investigation and the subsequent enforcement package announced on 3 September 2026. The self-notification, while a mitigating factor, did not prevent the imposition of a formal capital add-on and licence conditions given the multi-year nature and materiality of the miscalculation identified in the review.
CAPITAL ADD-ON AND INDEPENDENT REVIEW
The A$50 million operational risk capital add-on directly increases the amount of regulatory capital ING Bank Australia must hold against operational risk, penalising the lender for the control failures that led to the miscalculation. APRA characterised the add-on as reflective of the material weaknesses identified in the bank's liquidity risk management and reporting systems.
In addition to the capital penalty, APRA increased the minimum liquidity requirements applicable to ING Bank Australia and imposed additional conditions on its banking licence. The bank must also commission an independent review of its risk management, governance and culture, a broad remediation programme that will feed back into APRA's ongoing supervision of the lender across the coming reporting periods.
APRA emphasised that ING Bank Australia remains well capitalised, an important reassurance for depositors and counterparties given the scale of the identified breaches. The enforcement action is one of the most significant liquidity-related interventions by the Australian regulator in recent years and highlights the priority APRA places on the accuracy of prudential reporting across the country's banking system, particularly in the wake of global episodes that have underscored the speed at which deposit runs can develop. ING Bank Australia has said it will work through the remediation programme and cooperate fully with the independent review commissioned under the APRA-imposed conditions.