The Australian Institute of Criminology has estimated that serious and organised crime cost Australia up to $47.4 billion in 2016/17. Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic has seen an increase in fraudulent activity in Australia and around the world.

Even before the pandemic, criminal syndicates were constantly developing new ways to exploit vulnerability and launder the proceeds of crime. For these reasons it is likely that even greater emphasis will be placed on building further capacity to identify and disrupt this criminal activity across the financial sector.

The purpose of anti-money-laundering and counterterrorism financing (AML/CFT) regimes is for financial institutions to identify suspicious activity within their businesses and alert AUSTRAC, the AML/CTF Regulator.

However, the implications of the current legislation results in financial institutions being concerned they are unable to effectively share information with specialised Financial Crime Teams across financial institutions (private-to-private pre suspicion information sharing). This is a significant barrier to better detection and disruption of financial crime.

Read the full article, here.

Source: Australian Payments Network

How we can help 

At LS Consultancy, our consultants are industry experts that interpret the rules, regulations and spirit of the industry guidelines by assisting you “the client” in implementing a compliance programme that you can be confident is mitigating the risk of financial crime. What we can do:

• We analyse the relevant jurisdictions legislation, regulation and industry guidance to ensure that your controls adopt the highest standard possible
• Analyse and/ or Enhance your Business Wide Risk Assessment to ensure we consider money laundering and relevant predicate crimes
• Assessment of your Customer Onboarding and/ or Periodic KYC reviews rely on independent documentation and supported by credible information from your customer – as this is key to your compliance programme.
• Robust Transaction Monitoring and Screening whilst utilising your up-to-date KYC documentation/ information are fundamental.
• Greater emphasis on training – why not go through live examples with your RM’s, Operational Teams and Compliance – discuss the areas of concern and come up with compliant solutions.
• Ensuring your Compliance Monitoring Programme is conducted on a regular basis
• Engagement with senior management through relevant committees

For further information please contact us where our industry experts will be happy to answer your questions.

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