(Australia) National Bank of Australia has moved to dampen rumours in the market place that the bank has a large exposure in South Korea.”There are no lending exposures in South Korea causing concern to the National,” the bank said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange.
The speculation followed the indictment of a former NAB employee in the bank’s Seoul office by the local District Public Prosecutor on suspicion of embezzling funds from wealthy Koreans.
NAB said it had filed a complaint with the Public Prosecutor against its former employee in relation to “forgery of certificates of deposits and promissory notes…which purport to be National documents” worth about A$77 million.
The bank went on to say that holders of the forged documents were not NAB clients, nor was there any involvement by the bank, and that no funds passed through the bank’s records.
“The National is not liable on those forged documents,” the statement said.
“The National is fully cooperating with the South Korean authorities,” it said.