Most of the changes made by the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2020 commence on 18 June 2020.

The amendments to customer identification procedures, correspondent banking relationships, tipping-off offences and access to information take effect on 18 June 2021. The changes to cross-border movements of money will commence on 18 June 2022.

To implement the changes the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Rules Amendment Instrument 2021 (No. 1) repeals and inserts new Chapters 3, 6, 7 and 10 in the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Rules.

The Rules changes include changes to Chapter 3 – Correspondent banking, Chapter 6 – Customer identification and verification, Chapter 7 – Reliance on customer identification carried out by another reporting entity, and Chapter 10 – Gambling services.

The AML/CTF Act amendments:

• update provisions relating to reporting entities’ customer due diligence obligations, including by expanding the circumstances under which they may rely on procedures undertaken by third parties and clarifying the requirement for a reporting entity to complete the applicable customer identification procedure before providing a designated service to a customer;
• place stricter controls around correspondent banking relationships;
• update and simplify the ‘tipping off’ offence (the offence is intended to prevent information about a suspicious matter report made by a reporting entity from reaching the person to whom the report related); and
• update secrecy offences and provisions regulating access to Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) information.

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