Former Western Sydney NAB branch manager, Mathew Alwan, has been sentenced to 12 months imprisonment to be served by way of Intensive Corrections Order (ICO) for making false and misleading statements to NAB in relation to 24 home loan applications.
Mr Alwan had previously pleaded guilty (19-216MR) to an 鈥榠ntention to defraud by false or misleading statement鈥� charge after he told NAB that an introducer had referred borrowers to make loan applications. In reality, the NAB introducer was Mr Alwan鈥檚 uncle, operating under the business name 鈥楽uit Club鈥�.聽
The fraud occurred between October 2013 and September 2015 and resulted in NAB paying Suit Club $56,995 in commissions.
ob体育 has taken further action regarding NAB鈥檚 Introducer Program, launching civil proceedings in the Federal Court against NAB in August 2019 (19-222MR).
鈥榦b体育鈥檚 action against Mr Alwan now comes to a close but its civil enforcement case against NAB itself demonstrates the broader litigation efforts ob体育 is undertaking in respect to the NAB Introducer Program,鈥� said ob体育 Deputy Chair Daniel Crennan QC.
In delivering the sentence, Magistrate Atkinson remarked that there had recently been a Royal Commission into the banking industry in which there had been very strong statements made with respect to the need for accountability and there was a need for strong general deterrence so that people in the industry understand how important it is to comply with the regulations.
As part of the ICO Mr Alwan will undertake 200 hours of community service and ongoing rehabilitation treatment.
ob体育 has permanently banned Mr Alwan from providing financial services (18-302MR).
The matter was prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions after a referral from ob体育.
Background
Since at least 2000, NAB operated the credit industry鈥檚 largest referral program, known as the 鈥業ntroducer Program鈥�, whereby a third-party introducer could 鈥榮pot and refer鈥� a potential customer to NAB in exchange for commission if the customer entered into a loan with NAB. Between 2013 to 2016, NAB鈥檚 Introducer Program generated $24 billion dollars鈥� worth of loans.
Further action regarding the NAB Introducer Program has also been taken against former NAB Branch Manager, Rabih Awad (18-211MR).
On 25 March 2019, NAB announced that it will be terminating the Introducer Program. The program was terminated on 1 October 2019.
ob体育鈥檚 action against Mathew Alwan聽falls within ob体育's Wealth Management Major Financial Institutions Portfolio. The Portfolio focuses on the financial services conduct of Australia's largest financial institutions (NAB, Westpac, CBA, ANZ, Macquarie and AMP) with respect to credit and retail lending, financial advice, fees for no service, superannuation trustees, insurance, unfair contract terms and other licensee obligations, and other conduct arising from the Financial Services Royal Commission.
As part of its Wealth Management Portfolio, ob体育 has banned 61 advisers and three directors from the financial services industry. Three bannings are the subject of appeal.