AUSTRAC has accepted an Enforceable Undertaking (EU) from two entities in the ING Bank Australia group (ING Bank Australia Ltd and ING Bank N.V., Sydney Branch) to uplift its compliance with Australia’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) laws.
Reporting entities and industry participants are invited to attend a webinar focussing on important updates from the Reporting Entity System Transformation (REST) Program, including changes to AUSTRAC Online that will impact how reporting entities interact with us and fulfil their AML/CTF obligations.
Specifically we’ll be focussing on:
AUSTRAC has partnered with Papua New Guinea’s financial intelligence agency to host the first in person conference of the Pacific Financial Intelligence Community (PFIC), bringing together financial intelligence agencies from across the region.
AUSTRAC has ordered the appointment of external auditors under section 162 of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (AML/CTF Act) to assess compliance of two corporate bookmakers, Sportsbet Pty Ltd (Sportsbet) and Hillside (Australia New Media) Pty Limited (Bet365).
A new financial crime guide released by AUSTRAC today will help financial service providers identify and report suspicious transactions indicative of criminals engaging in trade-based money laundering.
AUSTRAC welcomes today’s announcement that the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and Griffith University have established an academy to focus on financial crime.
AUSTRAC CEO, Nicole Rose, said that rapid movement of money underpinning criminal activity requires partnerships globally and across sectors.
On 22 September 2022, a cyber-attack on Optus resulted in the disclosure of their customers’ personal information. Optus customer information including names, dates of birth, email addresses, driver’s licences, Medicare cards and passport numbers may have been exposed.
AUSTRAC has commenced an enforcement investigation into Entain Group Pty Ltd. This follows an extensive supervisory campaign that assessed entities within the corporate bookmakers sector. The investigation will focus on whether Entain has complied with its obligations under the AML/CTF Act.
AUSTRAC has released four anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) e-learning modules. The modules are designed for new reporting entities or those wanting to refresh their understanding of AML/CTF regulation and their compliance obligations.
The modules are:
AUSTRAC has released three new risk assessments to help remittance service providers and bullion dealers understand the money laundering and terrorism financing (ML/TF) threats and vulnerabilities they face.
We’ve also released a threat update for the superannuation sector, to update the existing superannuation risk assessment and examine current threats faced by the sector.