The Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 as amended by the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Act 2024 commenced in relation to current reporting entities on 31 March 2026.

The Act will apply to Tranche 2 entities from 1 July 2026.

A consolidated version is available here.

Background.

Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (Proliferation Financing) Regulations 2026 also commenced on 31 March 2026.

Separately, the Government has introduced the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Bill 2026 into the House of Representatives to empower the AUSTRAC CEO to restrict or prohibit, by legislative instrument, a reporting entity from using a high-risk mechanism
to provide a designated service. For example, exchanging money for virtual assets via a cryptocurrency ATM. The Bill, if passed, will also amend the meaning of financing of terrorism to reference new offences for financing a state sponsor of terrorism. Technical amendments will also be made to the AML/CTF Act.

2025 Rules

The amended Act is implemented by the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Rules 2025 which have been amended by the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (2025 Rules) Amendment Rules 2026  which also commenced on 31 March 2026.

The Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (Class Exemptions and Other Matters) Amendment Rules 2026 also commenced on 31 March 2026. These Rules:

• exempt ATM operators from undertaking initial customer due diligence on people who withdraw less than $10,000 in cash where the person isn’t otherwise the ATM operator’s customer;
• exempt Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) from undertaking initial customer due diligence on people who withdraw less than $1,000 in virtual assets to their self-hosted wallet where the person isn’t otherwise the VASP’s customer;
• exempt reporting entities that issue open-loop gift cards from undertaking initial customer due diligence about the gift card recipient when paying for goods and services where there are other appropriate risk mitigations;
• exempt other people that issue open-loop gift cards from AML/CTF obligations where there are other appropriate risk mitigations;
• exempt services provided by barristers to Australian government bodies;
• exempt incidental services provided by clearing and settlement facilities;
• exempt incidental legal assistance services provided by community legal centres, legal aid, duty lawyers and advocates representing a client under a court referral scheme.

The Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Transitional Rules 2026 include a 3 year initial CDD transition period for existing reporting entities from 31 March 2026 to 30 March 2029.

Austrac has updated the Suspicious Matter Reporting (SMR) reference guide to contain best-practice expectations for drafting grounds for suspicion text.

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