(Reuters) – Australia’s financial stability regulator said on Friday it had increased capital raising requirements for bank ANZ Group to 750 million Australian dollars ($502.73 million), stepping up its regulatory oversight after the bank recently admitted making false statements about bond trading data.

The move by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), which represents an increase of A$250 million to the existing surcharge, underscores ongoing concerns about ANZ’s risk management practices.

APRA had previously ordered an operational risk capital increase of A$500 million for the bank in 2019, citing similar deficiencies in its risk management framework.

This regulatory development follows a turbulent period for Australia’s fourth-largest bank, which recently suspended several traders from its markets division following allegations of misconduct following reports of alleged misrepresentations by bank staff in government bond trading.

“While ANZ has initiated a number of investigations into these matters, these matters raise regulatory concerns that ANZ has not adequately addressed deficiencies in controls, risk culture, governance and accountability,” the regulator said in a statement.

APRA has now instructed ANZ to engage an independent firm to conduct a comprehensive review of its markets business, focusing on the root causes of the recent problems, including risk management practices and potential wider implications.

In addition, ANZ must formulate a detailed recovery strategy to implement the findings and recommendations of the review.

At the same time, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission is investigating the alleged manipulation of ANZ’s sale of 14 billion Australian dollars worth of 10-year Australian government bonds in April 2023. The suspicion is that the bank artificially inflated the value of the bonds by influencing the prices of the 10-year futures contracts shortly before the final terms were set.

ANZ did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

(1 US dollar = 1.4919 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Roushni Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)