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.
To combat money laundering, terrorism financing (ML/TF) and other serious financial crime a powerful global response is needed. That is why AUSTRAC is a member of several international organisations that work to combat the harm these criminals cause our community.
Since May 2022, the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned two virtual currency mixers in an effort to combat money laundering and terrorism financing.
Financial crime guides are designed to help your business identify and stop criminal activity. These guides provide you with patterns and indicators to understand, identify and report suspicious financial activity for a range of serious and organised crimes.
The Reporting Entity System Transformation (REST) program has recently undertaken a series of workshops with participants of the Customer Advisory Group on the AUSTRAC Online user interface.
The workshops involved 67 participants, from 37 reporting entities from across 15 different industry groups who each provided feedback of their experience using AUSTRAC Online.
The high intrinsic value of bullion allows it to be used by criminals to store and invest the proceeds of crime. Criminals target bullion dealers to launder illicit funds and evade taxes, and facilitate crimes including fraud, scams and drug trafficking.