Glossary and abbreviations
Glossary of terms
| alternative remittance systems |
Sometimes referred to as 'underground banking', these systems exist and operate outside traditional banking and financial channels. They typically involve little or no regulation and minimal documentation, and operate through networks of funds transfer agents who accept funds from remitters and deliver funds to recipients. In many cases these systems bypass the standard inter-bank funds transfer and settlement system. |
| beneficiary (or beneficiary customer) |
This is the person (or organisation) who is the ultimate recipient of funds being transferred. |
| co-mingling |
The process of combining the profits of illicit activities with the profits of a legitimate business to disguise the illicit funds and make them appear legitimate. |
| condition of release |
Regulatory conditions that must be met before a superannuation benefit can be paid (e.g. reaching age 65, etc.) |
| restraint (of funds etc.) |
A court order directing that the money, property, etc. suspected to be involved in a crime can only be disposed of or dealt with as directed by the court. |
| structuring |
Also known as 'smurfing', this is a money laundering technique which involves the distribution of a large amount of cash into a number of smaller deposits to evade threshold reporting requirements. It could also involve the layering of funds for international funds transfers in an effort to avoid scruitiny of the transfers. |
| u-turn transactions |
An international transaction where money transferred out of a country is immediately followed by an incoming transfer back into the country, without any obvious business rationale or logical explanation. |
Abbreviations
ADIs - authorised deposit-taking institutions
AML/CTF Act - Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006
APG - Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering
ATM - automatic teller machine
AUD - Australian dollars
AUSTRAC - Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre
EFT - electronic funds transfer
FATF - the Financial Action Task Force
FTR Act - Financial Transaction Reports Act 1988
GST - Goods and Services Tax
IFTI - international funds transfer instruction
ML/TF - money laundering/terrorism financing
OMSF - organised missing supplier fraud
PIN - personal identification number
RSAs - retirement savings accounts
SCTR - significant cash transaction report [1]
SMR - suspicious matter report
SUSTR - suspect transaction report [2]
UK - United Kingdom
USD - United States dollars
1 significant cash transaction reports are submitted to AUSTRAC under the FTR Act, in respect of a currency transaction involving AUD10,000 or more. As of 12 December 2008, the AML/CTF Act equivalent is the threshold transaction report (TTR).
2 suspect transaction reports are submitted to AUSTRAC under the FTR Act when a cash dealer has reasonable grounds to suspect that a transaction may be relevant to investigation of an offence against an Australian law. As of 12 December 2008, the AML/CTF Act equivalent is the suspicious matter report (SMR).
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