APRA takes action to address material liquidity breaches by ING Australia

APRA announced on 3 September 2026 that it has imposed licence conditions on ING Bank Australia Limited after the bank identified material miscalculations in its liquidity position over several years. ING Australia had been reporting a Liquidity Coverage Ratio of around 160 per cent, but its true LCR was substantially lower and at times fell below the 100 per cent minimum required by Prudential Standard APS 210 Liquidity. ING Australia notified APRA of the issue in July 2026 and has since raised its liquidity position above APRA's minimum requirements.

APRA's licence conditions require ING Australia to commission independent reviews into the causes of the liquidity reporting failures and into its broader risk management and governance practices, to develop a remediation plan addressing the weaknesses identified, and to obtain independent assurance that remediation has been effectively implemented. APRA has also raised ING Australia's minimum liquidity requirements and imposed a 50 million dollar operational risk capital add-on to address heightened operational risk and potential broader weaknesses in prudential reporting.

APRA Deputy Chair Therese McCarthy Hockey said the breaches were serious notwithstanding that ING Australia, which has more than 2 million customers and assets exceeding 100 billion dollars, remains financially resilient. She said the inability to accurately measure a core prudential safeguard raised questions about the effectiveness of the bank's risk management and controls. The capital add-on, increased liquidity requirement and licence conditions will stay in place until APRA is satisfied the required remediation work is complete.