Currency in AML regime refresh

The federal government is pushing ahead with its expansion of the anti-money laundering (AML) regime, with the financial intelligence agency AUSTRAC set to receive additional powers. The government unveiled changes to the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 yesterday, which will also bring digital currency providers within the AML regime.

Michael Keenan, the minister for justice, said the laws would be the first stage of a series of reforms and will broaden the enforcement tools available to the financial crime agency and other policing bodies.

The digital currency sector was celebrating the proposed reforms yesterday, saying they would create a regulatory framework within which innovation could thrive.

"This is something that we have advocated for some years. It will increase safeguards and provide regulatory certainty to digital currency businesses," said Nick Giurietto, chief executive of the Australian Digital Currency & Commerce Association.

Some digital currency providers have been complying voluntarily with key aspects of the AML/CTF regime, such as customer due diligence, even though there is no obligation to do so. In November last year the ADCA released a code of conduct that sets out best practice standards for business operations, consumer protection and AML/CTF safeguards.

The Bill also includes provisions to reduce regulatory costs for low-risk sectors, such as cash-in-transit couriers.

Keenan said the reforms would lead to compliance savings of A$36 million annually, with the deregulation of low-risk industries, which are already subject to state and territory licensing.

A spokeswoman for the Attorney-General's Department said the reforms were the result of an ongoing reform program and were not linked to the public reaction to the Commonwealth Bank's money laundering scandal.

This article first appeared on Thomson Reuters' Accelus Regulatory Intelligence service.