The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) has released three new national updates in the face of increasing money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing risks.
The three new national updates provide the industry with a recent appraisal on how financial crime threats are evolving.
AUSTRAC is concerned by the impact of advancement in artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential impact on financial crime, a sentiment other regulators have also expressed.
“These updates show that Australia’s money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation financing environments continue to rely on enduring channels – but they are being reshaped by technology, globalisation and increasingly sophisticated criminal behaviour,” AUSTRAC chief executive Brendan Thomas explained.
“As these risks converge and become more complex, detecting illicit activity is harder.”
In such an environment, the government body indicated it is critical industry has a clear up-to-date picture of where the risks are and how they are changing.
The three updates are to be used with AUSTRAC’s national risk assessments for money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation financing, which were released in 2024.
The new updates highlight an increasing prevalence for operators to use lawful financial services and corporate structures to disguise illicit funds, often within small or routine transactions.
Unsurprisingly, digitisation and emerging technologies such as AI and virtual assets are a growing factor in serious financial crime.
“Criminals are increasingly using AI as a part of their money laundering toolkit – fabricating identities, forging documents and rapidly disguising the proceeds of scams. In some cases, technology is automating what used to be manual laundering techniques, raising the sophistication and scale of financial crime,” Thomas said.
He pointed out the updates are also a critical foundation for the Anti-Money Laundering/Counter-Terrorism Financing Act Tranche 2 reforms due to be implemented on 1 July.
