Upcoming Mallesons seminarsKey points
- The Australian Government will meet financial sector representatives on 21 July to seek agreement on three key AML implementation issues.
- Draft legislation covering at least the financial services sector may be released by October 2005.
- Draft legislation affecting other sectors may be released and implemented in stages.
The Minister for Justice and Customs, the Honourable Senator Chris Ellison, addressed the Australian Bankers' Association "Anti Money Laundering Forum" on 5 July 2005.
The Minister confirmed that the Government remains committed to the reform of Australia's anti-money laundering laws, as envisaged in the Policy Proposal Paper released in June 2004.
The Government has developed a draft bill to reform Australia's anti-money laundering regime, and will host a forum including representatives of the financial sector on 21 July 2005, to discuss three key issues that have been raised by industry.
- The use of a risk based approach, under which financial sector entities will be able to take a flexible approach. Senator Ellison indicated that detailed guidelines to support a risk based approach could be developed by AUSTRAC and the financial services industry.
- Mechanisms for dealing with existing customers who have been identified under current law - the Government appears to be keen to design a system which complies with international standards while allowing institutions to rely on existing identification for existing customers.
- Timing for implementation and transitional measures. The challenge is to balance the burden of cost on business while ensuring that Australia meets individual obligations from an early date.
Relevant definitions and provisions from the draft legislation will be available for the 21 July forum, to allow detailed discussion. However, the draft legislation is not expected to be released before the forum takes place.
The Minister also said that he would like to hear about other issues that industry wishes to discuss at the forum (such as identification issues with non face-to-face customers and transactions).
The Minister further indicated that, while the Government is committed to an AML regime that covers the broad industry groups required under the 2003 version of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) Forty Recommendations, and the Nine Special Recommendations of the FATF, it is possible that a staggered implementation could be adopted.
Assuming that some broad agreement can be reached on 21 July 2005, draft legislation, at least as it affects the financial sector, may be released in time for the FATF meeting in Paris in October 2005.
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