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Commonwealth act
This is Australia's main law for fighting money laundering (disguising money obtained from crime as legitimate income), terrorism financing (providing money or resources to terrorist groups), and related financial crimes.
Directly affected — businesses called "reporting entities": Any business or person that provides a "designated service" must comply with this law. This covers a huge range of businesses including:
Indirectly affected — ordinary customers: If you open a bank account, send money overseas, buy cryptocurrency, gamble at a casino, or buy investment products, your identity will be verified and your transactions may be monitored and reported to the government.
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Direct links to the current provisions in Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006.
Zoe has indexed the source text for search and analysis. Use the official register for the original document and download formats.
View on official registerSourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.
Know Your Customer (KYC): Before providing services, businesses must verify who you are — name, address, identity documents. This is why your bank asks for a driver's licence or passport.
AML/CTF Program: Every reporting entity must develop and follow a written anti-money laundering program — essentially a risk management plan tailored to their business.
Ongoing monitoring: Businesses must keep watching customer transactions for anything suspicious throughout the relationship.
Report suspicious matters: If a business suspects you're laundering money or financing terrorism, they must report it to AUSTRAC (the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre — the government body that collects and analyses financial intelligence) — and they cannot tell you they've done so.
Report large cash transactions: Any physical cash transaction of $10,000 or more must be automatically reported to AUSTRAC.
Report international transfers: Certain information about money transfers overseas must be reported.
Report cross-border cash movements: Moving $10,000 or more in physical cash across Australia's border must be declared.
Register with AUSTRAC: Money transfer businesses and cryptocurrency service providers must be registered — operating without registration is illegal.
Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs): Businesses must take extra care when dealing with politicians, senior government officials, their family members, or close associates — both Australian and foreign — as these relationships carry higher risk of corruption.
Correspondent banking restrictions: Australian banks face strict rules before they can form financial relationships with overseas banks.
For you as a customer: You'll be asked to prove your identity when accessing financial services. Large cash transactions will be reported to the government. If something about your transactions seems unusual, your bank or other provider may report you to AUSTRAC — without telling you.
For businesses: Non-compliance can result in massive civil penalties (fines). The law creates extensive record-keeping, reporting, and compliance obligations.
For Australia internationally: The law fulfils Australia's obligations under multiple international treaties and United Nations resolutions, and aligns with global standards set by the FATF (Financial Action Task Force — an international body that sets global anti-money laundering standards). Without compliance, Australia risked being placed on international watchlists, which would damage our banking relationships globally.
AUSTRAC collects all this reported information, analyses it, and shares it with law enforcement agencies (like the AFP, ATO, and state police) to investigate and prosecute financial crime.