The Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (AML/CTF Act) requires a person who provides “designated services” in Australia to be a reporting entity with Austrac. This applies to financial services organisations, remittance service providers, the gambling sector and bullion dealers.
Section 51B of the AML/CTF Act imposes a civil penalty on providers of designated services who do not enrol on the Reporting Entities Roll. If Austrac prosecutes for non-enrolment the penalty payable is determined by a court. The maximum penalty for a body corporate is 100,000 penalty units (currently $21 million). The maximum penalty payable by a person other than a body corporate is 20,000 penalty units (currently $4.2 million).
A reporting entity must develop, adopt and maintain an anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) program that reflects the business’s circumstances and complies with the AML/CTF Rules.
An AML/CTF program needs to set out the ways the business will comply with its AML/CTF obligations and identify, mitigate and manage money laundering and terrorism financing (ML/TF) risks.
The AML/CTF Act and the AML/CTF Rules also impose customer identification, reporting and record-keeping obligations.
How we can help
David Jacobson is an experienced lawyer, compliance consultant and AML/CTF Independent Reviewer.
We can help you with an AML/CTF risk assessment, drafting your AML program, enrolling as a reporting entity, registering as a remittance dealer, advising you on a regulatory investigation by AUSTRAC or training and compliance reviews to ensure you meet ongoing obligations.
