Prudential regulator's latest liquidity capital add-on follows similar operational risk actions against ANZ and Bendigo Bank
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has imposed licence conditions on ING Australia, requiring the second-tier lender to hold additional capital and liquidity, after the bank disclosed that it had materially overstated its liquidity position for several years.
According to APRA, ING had been reporting a Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) – the prudential measure that shows whether a bank holds enough high-quality liquid assets to survive a short-term funding shock – of around 160%. In reality, the bank's true LCR was substantially lower and, at times, dropped below the 100% minimum set out in regulatory guidelines.
APRA deputy chair Therese McCarthy Hockey described the breaches as "not simply a reporting error”, adding: “When a bank cannot accurately measure one of its most important financial safeguards, it raises fundamental questions about the effectiveness of its risk management and controls. APRA is therefore acting decisively to ensure ING rectifies these weaknesses expediently.”
While APRA confirmed ING’s financial resilience, the regulator has imposed licence conditions requiring the bank to commission independent reviews into the causes of its liquidity reporting failures, develop a comprehensive remediation plan, and provide independent assurance once those remediation steps have been embedded.
APRA has also lifted ING Australia's minimum liquidity requirements and applied a $50 million operational risk capital add-on to address heightened operational risk and broader weaknesses in its prudential reporting.
Melanie Evans, chief executive of ING Australia, acknowledged APRA’s announcement and accepted the actions outlined today.
“Meeting our regulatory obligations is fundamental to operating as a bank and we have fallen short of the standards we set for ourselves and of the expectations rightly held by APRA,” said Evans. “After identifying and self-reporting these issues, we have worked transparently and constructively with APRA to address them. We regret that these deficiencies existed in our operations and we are committed to meeting APRA’s expectations when it comes to standards of risk management, governance and regulatory reporting.”
ING Australia has since lifted its liquidity position back above APRA's minimum requirements, but the measures remain in place until APRA is satisfied the underlying issues have been resolved.
A broader pattern of enforcement
ING Australia's case is the latest in a run of enforcement actions APRA has taken against major lenders over non-financial risk failures.
It imposed a $750 million capital add-on requirement on ANZ over risk culture failures, citing weaknesses in the bank's Markets division and a "reactive risk culture”. That add-on was later increased to $1 billion after ANZ's independent review into its risk governance practices failed to satisfy APRA that the bank's underlying problems had been resolved.
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank faced a similar action when APRA imposed a $50 million operational risk capital add-on in December 2025 after an AUSTRAC-linked investigation uncovered anti-money laundering and risk-management deficiencies. That add-on remains in place after a Deloitte-led risk review found the weaknesses to be longstanding and pervasive across the bank.
In ANZ's case, APRA chair John Lonsdale said the concern was less about isolated incidents and more about the bank's broader controls, noting that "there continues to be material gaps that need to be closed as a priority”.
ING's rapid rise up the lending ladder
The capital add-on lands at an awkward moment for a lender that has spent the past two years climbing Australia's mortgage rankings, in part at Bendigo Bank's expense.
ING reclaimed the title of Australia's sixth-largest home lender by loan book size in June 2025, edging past Bendigo and Adelaide Bank for the first time in four years.
APRA statistics put ING's combined owner-occupied and investor loan book at $66.47 billion as of June 2025, against Bendigo Bank's $64.95 billion, with ING's mortgage book growing more than 11% year-on-year – well ahead of the major banks' average growth of under 5%.
The digital-only lender has continued building on that position through 2026, posting a $591 million annual profit as its mortgage book kept expanding, while separate Roy Morgan research has ranked ING first among the country's major banks for home loan customer satisfaction in the six months to May 2026.
ING has pointed to broker support and its branchless, digital-first model as drivers of that growth.
