The Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Rules Amendment Instrument 2012 (No. 1) commenced on 1 February 2012.
The amendments include:
- Amendments to Chapters 8 and 9 require reporting entities to expressly state in their AML/CTF Part A programs what obligations they have under the AML/CTF Act, and specify the appropriate systems and controls which they have implemented in regard to those obligations. Reporting entities have discretion in how they detail the description of the systems and controls which they have put in place, however, they must be an ‘appropriate’ response to the money-laundering/terrorism-financing risk which the reporting entity has identified. There was previously no requirement in Chapters 8 or 9 that reporting entities should list the reporting obligations which specifically apply to them under the AML/CTF Act.
- Amendment of Chapter 28: Chapter 28 now provides an exemption from conducting the applicable customer identification procedure for transferring customers following a voluntary transfers of business under the Financial Sector (Business Transfer and Group Restructure) Act 1999.
- New Chapter 67 provides an exemption from the applicable customer identification procedure in regard to ‘warrants’. A warrant is a financial instrument issued by banks and other institutions and traded on the Australian Stock Exchange. AUSTRAC has accepted industry representations that, at the time of the warrant reset, there is currently a duplication of customer identification by reporting entities. This is because the warrant holder would already have been identified under the AML/CTF Act when the warrant was purchased. Accordingly, Chapter 67 specifies that relevant reporting entities are exempt from customer identification, subject to certain conditions, thereby removing the duplication.
- As a result of the amendments to Chapter 51, transactions which are currently not reportable between PayPal Australia and PayPal US and PayPal Singapore will now be reported to AUSTRAC under Chapter 16. The reporting anomaly has arisen because PayPal Australia does not supply reports to AUSTRAC about IFTIs under Chapter 17 of the AML/CTF Rules, but instead reports under Chapter 16 as it is an ADI. Therefore PayPal Australia transactions with PayPal Europe are reported under Chapter 16 as PayPal Europe is a ‘financial institution’ because it is a bank licensed in Luxembourg.
The Anti‑Money Laundering and Counter‑Terrorism Financing Rules Instrument 2007 (No. 1) (compiled up to 11 January 2012 but excluding the above amendments) can be downloaded here.
