Evaluation of Australia’s AML/CTF regime: Welcomed

AUSTRAC CEO Paul Jevtovic has welcomed a report from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) that identifies strengths and weaknesses of Australia’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regime.

Mr Jevtovic noted that the task of strengthening Australia’s financial sector against criminal misuse is essential for our national and economic security.

At AUSTRAC, we know the job is never finished.  We will continue to:

- work with our partners in law enforcement, national security, taxation and other areas of government, as well as regulated businesses, to strengthen Australia’s AML/CTF framework

-  help disrupt serious and organised crime – including tax avoidance, drug trafficking and financial support for terrorism

- weed out rogue operators who jeopardise the good standing of the Australian financial system and the safety of the Australian community.

We seek continual improvement and recognise that it is important to identify the things that work well in the AML/CTF regime and opportunities for improvement.

Australia rated well for:

- a nationally-coordinated approach to countering money laundering and terrorism financing

- a well-functioning and effective financial intelligence unit, AUSTRAC, with strong use of financial intelligence by law enforcement

- highly effective mechanisms for international cooperation

- world’s best-practice targeted financial sanctions regime to combat terrorism financing.

FATF has made more than 50 recommendations, which are valuable in the context of the current review of the AML/CTF Act.

We expect to be able to provide advice to Government in about six months.

Written by Austrac