ASB has been ordered to pay $6.731 million over its "inadequate" anti-money laundering systems – the highest penalty of its kind ever imposed in New Zealand.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand launched proceedings against ASB in December 2025, following an investigation.
The Reserve Bank said ASB's transaction monitoring system and its anti-money laundering and countering financing of terrorism programme were "inadequate" for around six years, which it called "unacceptable".
ASB cooperated with the investigation, and admitted to seven breaches of the law.
The breaches included failing to establish, implement, or maintain a programme relating to customer due diligence requirements; requirements to manage and mitigate the risks of money laundering and terrorism financing; and monitoring and managing compliance with ASB’s procedures, policies, and controls.
It also failed to adequately conduct ongoing customer due diligence on foreign trust customers, report suspicious activities within the required time, conduct enhanced customer due diligence, and terminate business relationships when required.
The High Court imposed a $6.731 million civil pecuniary penalty on ASB.
It's the highest anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism-financing penalty ever imposed.
The Reserve Bank said the penalty reflected the seriousness and prolonged nature of its non-compliance.
“Transaction monitoring is a key pillar to detect money laundering and terrorism financing. It is incumbent on banks to ensure their systems and processes are robust and sufficiently recognise and mitigate these risks,” the Reserve Bank's Acting assistant governor for financial stability Angus McGregor said.
“The AML/CFT Act plays an important part in maintaining and enhancing New Zealand’s international reputation and contributing to public confidence in our financial system.
"Non-compliance with transaction monitoring and reporting requirements denies New Zealand intelligence agencies crucial time-sensitive information that is needed to detect and deter money laundering and terrorism financing from impacting New Zealand communities."
In a statement to 1News, ASB chief executive Vittoria Shortt said the bank accepted the Court's findings and penalty.
"In particular, we accept responsibility for shortcomings in our transaction monitoring and customer due diligence systems and processes.
"We accept we didn’t act fast enough to resolve the issue and I apologise for that."
She said the bank had cleared all backlogs of monitoring alerts by February 2024, and has had none since.
"We have uplifted, and continue to uplift, our systems and processes to improve our AML/CFT capabilities," Shortt said.
"We have invested significantly in training our people, expanding our financial crime teams and enhancing the technology that supports our financial crime operations.
“Protecting our customers and the financial system is a core priority for ASB. We remain committed to further strengthening our AML/CFT compliance systems.”
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