reason for todays sell off

National Australia Bank Ltd's (NAB) Irish subsidiary is facing charges of about $210 million, following a six-year investigation into customer overcharging and tax evasion.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports the final bill could be several hundreds of million dollars higher when the Irish High Court orders National Irish Bank to pay for the probe, including the legal costs of several government departments.

Despite the gravity of the court findings which will be released on Friday, the Irish bank will not be wound up.

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The findings come as NAB finalises a review of its European Holdings.

According to the court documents, National Irish Bank has put aside about $109 million to deal with remedial matters identified by the inspectors and to compensate anyone suffering loss.

Another $49 million has already been paid in legal and bank costs, $11.4 million for an Inland Revenue audit and $22 million will be spent refunding customers lost fees and outstanding interest.

The Irish bank has also set up a $19 million fund to compensate offshore investors