The Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX: BEN) share price has dropped 7% today after it announced the findings of an independent money laundering investigation.
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank is a regional bank in Australia with locations mainly on the east coast and in South Australia. The company was formed after a merger in 2007.
Bendigo Bank suspicious activity investigation
The regional bank announced that it hired Deloitte in August 2025 to conduct an independent investigation of suspicious activity indicative of money laundering at one of its branches. The company said that it identified and reported the matter to AUSTRAC and law enforcement.
The review by Deloitte focused on activity between 1 August 2019 to 1 August 2025 at the identified branch. Bendigo Bank noted that it ensured the review was “sufficiently broad to identify both the nature and scope of the issues at the branch, and any related systemic anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing issues”.
Money laundering investigation findings
Bendigo Bank said, “Deloitte concluded that deficiencies existed throughout the relevant period regarding the bank’s approach to the identification, mitigation and management of money laundering (ML) and terrorism financing (TF) risk”.
Deloitte’s findings also revealed that these deficiencies extend beyond just the original branch. Weaknesses and deficiencies were identified across many key aspects of ML/TF risk management.
These weaknesses were found in many key areas “including in relation to the Bank’s approach to ML/TF risk assessment and enhanced customer due diligence; oversight of ML/TF risks; its transaction monitoring program and its approach to customer risk rating”.
Bendigo Bank also noted that Deloitte’s findings confirmed that there was deficient coverage of many ML/TF risk indictors in relation to transaction monitoring.
Plans for necessary system enhancements
The Bendigo Bank board said that it is “very disappointed with the findings and is fully committed to ensuring that the bank undertakes the necessary enhancements to its systems, processes and frameworks to ensure it is fully compliant with its obligations under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006”.
The board has already committed to fully funding the uplift program to address all deficiencies identified in the Deloitte review.
Summary thoughts on the Bendigo Bank share price
The company said that it will keep the market informed and continues to engage “constructively” with AUSTRAC, APRA and ASIC in relation to this matter.
However, Bendigo Bank doesn’t know the final outcomes or costs at this stage, which creates some big unknowns for investors.
The Bendigo Bank share price is certainly cheaper than it was yesterday but with this much uncertainty I wouldn’t want to buy shares until this has played out. There are other ASX dividend shares with good prospects on the horizon.
