Australia: Money Laundering

On 12 May 2026, AUSTRAC released updated risk snapshots of money laundering (ML), terrorism financing (TF) and proliferation financing (PF) threats influencing Australia’s ML, TF and PF environment.

Real estate agents and property developers face significant new compliance obligations under Australia's Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing regime, commencing 1 July 2026. What practical steps must businesses take now to ensure their existing processes meet the requirements of customer identification, beneficial ownership verification, risk assessment, and suspicious activity reporting?

Australia's Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act is undergoing significant reform, requiring professional services firms including law, accounting and real estate to implement new client verification and risk assessment procedures from July 2026. These changes will mandate identity verification, transaction risk assessments, and collection of detailed client documentation to combat the estimated $68 billion money laundering problem in Australia.

Outlines what Tranche 2 entities need to prepare, what the AUSTRAC Business Profile Form requires & how to ensure your AML/CTF compliance framework is ready.

The AML/CTF Regime for Tranche 2 entities takes effect on 1 July 2026.

The new AML/CTF Act & Rules will come into effect on 31 March 2026 for all existing Reporting Entities.

Australia's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) regime is undergoing significant reform. Part of these reforms is the expansion of the Anti-Money Laundering...

Reporting entities are ultimately responsible for compliance with the AML/CTF Act.

AUSTRAC is suing Mounties for serious AML/CTF compliance failures, warning the pubs & clubs sector ahead of major law reforms.