In 2010-2011 the major priorities for AUSTRAC's supervisory teams will be:
- transaction reporting with a particular focus on under reporting, non-reporting and the quality of transaction reports
- responding to partner agency requests for assistance and reviews of reporting entities
- providing guidance, education and training to smaller less resourced entities
- assessing AML/CTF programs and compliance with Know Your Customer (KYC) obligations.
Activities across industry sectors
In 2010-11 AUSTRAC will employ evidence-based selection processes to identify reporting entities for supervisory activity.
During the year a large portion of the regulated population will be assessed for anomalous transaction reporting behaviour (a behavioural assessment). When a reporting entity's behaviour is found to be outside that expected for its industry cohort, AUSTRAC will escalate its engagement with the reporting entity to determine the basis for this behaviour. The type of engagement with reporting entities will be tailored to the type of entity and the issues identified. This escalated engagement might include more intensive supervision activities (such as desk reviews and on-site assessments) to determine whether a reporting entity is meeting its AML/CTF obligations.
AUSTRAC has arranged its supervisory activities along regional lines. In addition, two specialist frontline supervisory teams have been established to address specific issues. A Referrals team has been established to deal with requests made through partner agencies to undertake assessments of nominated entities. A Major Reporters team has also been established to supervise reporting entities that lodge the highest volume of transaction reports with AUSTRAC.
Industry engagement through information circulars, AUSTRAC's monthly e-newsletter, forums and other forms of practical guidance will also continue through 2010-11.
Measuring effectiveness
We will measure the success of Supervision's activity by the volume of activity (i.e. number of actively engaged reporting entities) and depth (i.e. volume and quality) of compliance behaviours across the regulated population.
In 2010-11, AUSTRAC will seek to undertake around 2,700 behavioural assessments of reporting entities. In addition, AUSTRAC anticipates that it will undertake approximately 355 desk reviews and 80 on-site assessments of reporting entities.
We also plan to undertake industry surveys across five industry sectors. These surveys will provide AUSTRAC with a greater understanding of how certain sectors have understood and are implementing their AML/CTF obligations, particularly those related to reporting, transaction monitoring and ongoing customer due diligence. Aggregated findings will be provided back to our regulated community.
We will seek to gauge the achievement of outcomes resulting from our supervisory activity through identifying and resolving instances of systemic non-compliance, rectifying non-compliance by specific reporting entities, monitoring the impact these activities have on the broader regulated population and the value of AUSTRAC's financial intelligence to our partner agencies.
These key performance indicators will be reported internally each quarter and externally on an annual basis through the AUSTRAC annual report 2010-11 and the AUSTRAC supervision strategy 2011-12.
An assessment of AUSTRAC's performance against the AUSTRAC supervision strategy 2009-10 is set out at Appendix A.
