The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has issued a $247,500 fine to BNK Banking Corporation Limited (ASX: BNK), which allegedly failed to comply with data reporting obligations under the Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001.
Specifically, APRA sent 18 infringement notices to BNK, which was reportedly 32 days late in filing statistical reports for the month ending 28 February 2023 under the Economic and Financial Statistics program.
The data is used to compile APRA’s Monthly Authorised Deposit Taking Institutions Statistics (MADIS).
“We expect all entities to be compliant with our reporting standards to ensure APRA always has the most up-to date information on the industries we regulate,” APRA member Therese McCarthy Hockey said.
“Access to accurate and timely data is critical for APRA to effectively monitor the safety and stability of Australia’s banking, insurance, and superannuation systems.”
BNK chief executive officer Allan Savins acknowledged shortcomings in the bank’s reporting process, attributing the breach to a “technical issue”.
“BNK regrets that a technical issue with its core banking platform prevented it from generating the internal information needed for APRA’s monthly ADI statistics on time. This meant BNK was delayed in submitting its February 2023 reporting forms to APRA,” he said.
“We informed APRA as soon as we became aware of the issue in February and dedicated substantial resources to resolve the issue and submit the outstanding reporting forms. BNK has met all its reporting obligations for subsequent months.
“While this incident was extremely unfortunate, we can assure APRA and other stakeholders that the rectification work is now complete.”
BNK has since provided “sufficient reporting”, according to APRA, allowing the regulator to “ensure the organisation continued to remain prudentially sound over the period”.
BNK is required to pay APRA the fine by 1 August.
The bank’s market capitalisation as at 4 July 2023 totalled $56.3 million, with each of BNK’s shares trading at just under $0.50 per share.
In its trading update for the third quarter of the 2023 financial year (3Q23), BNK reported a 65 per cent year-on-year increase in total deposits to $1.37 billion.
Over the same period, the group’s lending portfolio grew 55 per cent to $1.3 billion, supported by an 8 per cent increase in settlements to $265 million.
As at March 2023, BNK had a capital adequacy ratio of 23.1 per cent.
BNK recently received an investment boost from non-bank lender Firstmac, which now holds a 19.9 per cent stake in the group.
