National framework

Australian AML/CTF Act and AUSTRAC

The Australian AML/CTF Act 2006 and the AUSTRAC regulator that enforces it — risk-based AML/CTF and the source of the well-publicised CBA, Westpac and Crown Resorts enforcement actions.

What it is

The Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (AML/CTF Act) is Australia's principal AML statute. It is administered by AUSTRAC, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, which is both the AML/CTF regulator and the Australian Financial Intelligence Unit. The Act sets a risk-based AML/CTF programme requirement, customer due diligence rules, threshold transaction reporting (over AUD 10,000), suspicious-matter reporting (SMR) and international funds transfer instruction (IFTI) reporting.

Why it matters globally

AUSTRAC enforcement actions against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (AUD 700 m, 2018) and Westpac (AUD 1.3 bn, 2020) — both for systemic AML/CTF programme failures — are reference points used internationally as case studies for AML programme weakness. The Act's "AML/CTF" name is a Commonwealth-jurisdiction terminology choice; the substance maps cleanly onto the FATF Recommendations.

See also

How this matters in our work

Bucephalus AML scenario coverage tracks AUSTRAC typology bulletins and threshold-transaction reporting expectations; relevant for European groups with Australian operations or Australian-bank correspondent relationships.