Austrac has published the Future Law Compilation of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act which shows the text of the AML/CTF Act 2006 as it is expected to read at 1 July 2026 to include the amendments within the AML/CTF Amendment Act 2024.

The Future Law Compilation of the AML/CTF Act is not the current law and further changes may be proposed and made to the law before the expected amendments commence.

Austrac is publishing the Future Law Compilation of the AML/CTF Act to assist reporting entities and industry associations understand the effect and become familiar with the amended legislation.

Summary of upcoming reforms

Austrac has also launched a new webpage which summarises the steps that reporting entities need to take to be prepared for the AML reforms that are coming into effect on 31 March 2026.

For example, some of the reforms relate to:

• no longer separating ‘an AML/CTF program into Part A and Part B’ provided it meets the requirements of the AML/CTF Act’;
• separating customer due diligence requirements into two categories – initial due diligence and ongoing due diligence, and also clarifying the level of checks applied to each customer under initial and ongoing due diligence; and
• amending the prohibition on “tipping off” customers regarding the reporting of suspicions of unlawful activity.

Cryptocurrency ATMs

Austrac has announced that it is cracking down on cryptocurrency ATM providers in Australia who don’t comply with the anti-money laundering regime.

An internal Austrac cryptocurrency taskforce has been established to ensure digital currency exchanges (DCEs) that provide crypto ATM services meet minimum standards and have robust practices in place to identify and minimise the risk that their machines will be used to move money associated with scams, fraud or other proceeds of crime.

2024 compliance report questions

Austrac has published the questions in the 2024 compliance report. It has made changes to some questions this year. The 2024 compliance report must be submitted by 31 March 2025.

2025 focus areas

Austrac has published a list of areas it is encouraging businesses to focus on:

• Board oversight and engagement: Boards should continue to actively engage in developing, assessing and monitoring its ML/TF risk appetite and tolerance. This includes receiving frequent reports, escalating matters to the Board and the Board responding to ML/TF risk exposure.
• Compliance function capacity: Businesses, particularly in emerging and growing sectors, are encouraged to match compliance capabilities and resourcing as they expand, to avoid delays in reporting and gaps in transaction monitoring investigations.
• ML/TF risk exposure: Small and medium businesses should regularly review and assess ML/TF risks, which are distinct from enterprise wide risk assessments. Businesses should incorporate insights from publications, such as Austrac’s 2024 money laundering national risk assessment and 2024 terrorism financing national risk assessment.
• Customer identification: Adequate checks on customer identity and source of wealth and funds . Austrac says it’s essential to ensure adequate and periodic reviews of transactions or unusual activity are carried out to assess ML/TF risks and exposures.
• Transaction monitoring: Tailored rules and triggers to detect high-risk typologies, such as terrorism financing, can help businesses prioritise high-risk investigations that in turn support law enforcement in disrupting illicit activities.
• Independent reviews: Robust independent reviews of AML/CTF programs deliver better outcomes by identifying gaps and improvements.

If you found this article helpful, then subscribe to our news emails to keep up to date and look at our video courses for in-depth training. Use the search box at the top right of this page or the categories list on the right hand side of this page to check for other articles on the same or related matters.