Second consultation on modernising Australia’s AML/CTF regime

In June 2024, AusPayNet responded to the Attorney-General’s Department’s second consultation on modernising Australia’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) regime.

In line with our submission to the first consultation on this topic in June 2023, we expressed particular support for:

• Simplifying and modernising the AML/CTF regime, including by adopting a risk-based approach that would enable more effective identification and mitigation of ML/TF risks relevant to each business.
   
• Clarifying the scope of services subject to AML/CTF regulation and considering greater alignment in definitions between the AML/CTF regime and Treasury’s proposed payment service provider licensing framework.
   
• Adopting further changes to the tipping-off provisions to better enable collaboration across the ecosystem to help facilitate the detection and disruption of economic crime.
   
• Improving the efficiency and effectiveness of regulatory reporting frameworks, including by ensuring that regulators and law enforcement have the tools and resources required to effectively analyse and act on the intelligence acquired.
   
• Futureproofing the regime by only including the overarching, principles-based obligations in the AML/CTF Act, supported by clear and comprehensive Rules and Guidance that help businesses better understand how to meet these obligations.
   
• Ensuring that reporting entities are given sufficient time for effective implementation of any changes, given the significant technological and procedural uplift that is likely to be required.

We welcomed the additional information provided by the Department in the second consultation, although further detail will be required to fully understand and assess the scope and impact of some of the proposed changes.

AusPayNet’s submission is available below.