Financial Crime and Regulation Year in Review 2023

Welcome to KWM’s Financial Crime and Regulation Year in Review 2023

Our report explores the following key themes in the financial crime and regulation landscape including:

• Growing tensions between customer expectations and bank obligations. Against the backdrop of increasing scam activity, novel claims have been brought against banks based on alleged duties arising from common law, codes of practice and the AML/CTF Act.
• Customers challenging being de-banked. Recent claims serve as a timely reminder for banks to consider how to balance financial crime or ESG obligations against requirements to act fairly, which may include having and recording valid reasons for exit, as well as appropriately managing communication of those reasons to the customer.
• Significant reforms to the AML/CTF Act and sanctions laws. Together with the long-awaited extension of the AML/CTF Act to “Tranche 2” entities, there have also been proposals to simplify and modernise that Act and introduce changes to the autonomous sanctions regime which may see a shift in approach to enforcement.
• Continued enforcement activity from AUSTRAC. There has been an increased use of enforceable undertakings throughout 2023 and Following the resolution of the proceeding against Crown, reporting entities are closely considering the implications for their own AML/CTF programs and frameworks.

We hope you find this report informative.