AUSTRAC has outlined its regulatory priorities for the upcoming 12 months, emphasising a dedication to enhancing the monetary system’s resilience in opposition to cash laundering, terrorism financing, and different critical crimes.

AUSTRAC’s main focus stays on bolstering companies’ understanding and administration of dangers related to cash laundering and terrorism financing, notably inside sectors reminiscent of banking, playing, and remittance, which inherently face larger dangers.

Pete Soros (pictured above), AUSTRAC performing CEO, highlighted the significance of collaborating with companies to pinpoint potential areas for enchancment at an early stage, to forestall them from evolving into systemic challenges.

“These priorities sign our ongoing intent to work with companies to embed a tradition of vigilance, guaranteeing everybody at each degree is conscious of the specter of monetary abuse and prison exploitation,” Soros mentioned.

“Criminals goal companies with weak anti-money laundering settings, which is why AUSTRAC’s regulation, via schooling and supervision, is essential to safeguarding Australia’s communities and monetary programs from monetary hurt.”

AUSTRAC’s regulatory priorities for 2024 revolve round hardening regulated sectors in opposition to prison misuse, with a selected deal with combating cash laundering, terrorism financing, and different critical crimes. The group plans to make use of its regulatory instruments to make sure reporting entities perceive and adjust to their obligations underneath the AML/CTF Act.

The regulatory priorities for 2024, as outlined by AUSTRAC, focus on 4 enduring priorities:

• Cash laundering and terrorism-financing (ML/TF) threat: Emphasising the necessity to perceive, mitigate, and handle ML/TF threat because the cornerstone of the AML/CTF framework.
• AML/CTF applications: Highlighting the significance of efficient AML/CTF applications that define how reporting entities will adjust to the AML/CTF Act and AML/CTF guidelines.
• Reporting: Stressing the importance of correct, well timed, and high-quality reporting to AUSTRAC, together with worldwide funds switch directions (IFTI), threshold transaction reviews (TTR), and suspicious matter reviews (SMR).
• Excessive-risk sectors: Persevering with deal with the banking, playing, and remittance sectors, recognizing their publicity to vital prison threats and vulnerabilities.

Whereas AUSTRAC will focus its regulatory actions on the required precedence areas, it retains the capability to research different areas important for compliance with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) obligations.

Sectors experiencing speedy development, vital issues about AML/CTF compliance, and substantial variation in compliance ranges, together with digital foreign money exchanges (DCEs), fee platforms, bullion, and non-bank lenders and financiers, are earmarked for elevated scrutiny by AUSTRAC.

AUSTRAC’s proactive strategy goals to deal with rising points promptly, signaling potential elevated engagement, assessments, notifications, and, in some instances, enforcement actions to make sure compliance and shield in opposition to monetary crime.

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