E109/05               1 September 2005

Joint Communiqué: Third Industry Roundtable on Anti-Money Laundering and
Counter-Terrorist Financing between the Minister for Justice and Customs, Senator Chris
Ellison, and representatives of the Financial Services Sector

The Minister for Justice and Customs Senator Chris Ellison held a third roundtable meeting in Sydney with representatives of the Australian financial services sector, to progress agreement on outstanding issues related to proposed anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) reforms and prepare for the release of draft exposure legislation. Today’s discussions followed on from previous roundtable meetings held on 21 July and 15 August.

Senator Ellison and Australian Bankers’ Association Director, Tony Burke, jointly chaired the meeting which was attended by representatives of the banks, card schemes, fund managers, life insurers and associations representing financial planners, credit unions, brokers, investment banks, building societies, the credit, superannuation and insurance industries.

The purpose of the meeting was to progress discussions on issues raised during the 15 August and 21 July roundtables and to further clarify detail of previously agreed options for implementing the Recommendations of the international Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF). The FATF’s Recommendations are the recognised international standard in measures to combat terrorist financing and money laundering.

The meeting agreed with a proposed framework for the legislation, with the Act to contain general principles and detail being contained in regulations and Rules. These would be developed in consultation with industry as well as industry guidelines which would be authorised by AUSTRAC. It is envisaged that this framework would require AML programmes and operating procedures to be put in place by regulated entities with an overall audit role to be carried out by AUSTRAC.

It was agreed today that the new AML/CTF legislation will set robust standards for CDD which are technology neutral with further discussion on the content of standards. It was recognised that alternative methods would need to provide the same confidence in the verification process as face-to face procedures.

Today’s meeting agreed that Government and industry would continue to jointly develop risk-triggers that may require the identification of some existing customers. These would be developed as part of Rules that will provide further detail on the application of new obligations. It is expected that, as part of its new functions, AUSTRAC will periodically review the effectiveness of these risk-based processes.

The meeting agreed to an approach for the identification of Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs). Businesses may use either accredited commercial service providers, or rely on customer acceptance procedures which rely on self-disclosure. Government will assist industry by providing guidance and will develop appropriate customer acceptance forms in consultation with industry.

The roundtable meeting also agreed that options for third party identity verification need to be clarified and that further work needs to be undertaken to develop robust options for remote and special identification procedures.

The meeting agreed that important work remains to be done, and there will be a further meeting.

Senator Ellison was encouraged by the financial services sector’s commitment and efforts in developing workable proposals that will strengthen Australia’s AML and CTF systems and thanked all participants for their valuable contributions.




Media enquiries

Senator Ellison’s office: Brad Burke (02) 6277 7260 / 0417 749 711

ABA: Heather Wellard Ph 02/8298 0411 or 0409 830 439

http://www.ag.gov.au/www/justiceministerHome.nsf