AUSTRAC recently took action against 13 remittance and digital currency exchange providers with more than 50 others still in its sights.
The anti-money laundering regulator is wrapping up a year-long blitz to target non-reporting and under reporting, issuing another round of alerts to the industry's potentially non-compliant operators.
AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas said alerts are a precursor to potential regulatory action and identify AUSTRAC's concerns that operators may not be reporting suspicious matters and transactions to AUSTRAC.
"Late last year AUSTRAC cancelled, suspended and refused renewals of registration for 9 providers that had failed to meet their obligations under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act," Mr Thomas said.
"A further 2 providers had conditions placed on their registrations and are now on notice - a failure to meet these conditions may lead to suspension or cancellation of their registrations.
These regulatory actions included:
- Key personnel of Auaisa Trading Pty Ltd, Amco Travelling and Exchange Pty, Blue Star Exchange Pty Ltd, B-Paywize Pty Ltd, W Solution Group Pty Ltd, and TSS Farms & Group Pty Ltd were either convicted, prosecuted or charged with a serious offence, or were the subject of legal proceedings in relation to the management of an entity, which reflected adversely on their honesty or integrity.
- DIGI-SEND E-Money Pty Ltd, Rootie Technology Pty Ltd, and Jinte Net Blockchain Pty Ltd were no longer operating a business requiring registration.
- Currencyfair Australia Pty Ltd and Currencyfair Limited failed to meet registration requirements fully within the required time period. They are now registered with conditions.
Separately, another 2 providers, Zipmex Australia Pty Ltd (in liq) and FTX Express Pty Ltd (in liq) have been removed from the Digital Currency Exchange Register following their insolvencies.
"Early last year we initiated an investigation to identify and eliminate non-compliant providers and improve the industry's reporting on suspicious matters."
"The blitz follows AUSTRAC's analysis that identified systemic non-reporting and under-reporting in the remittance and digital currency exchange sectors.
"AUSTRAC uses the reports submitted by our reporting entities to generate actionable financial intelligence, which is used by our law enforcement partners in thousands of criminal investigations every year.
"This means remittance service providers and digital currency exchanges play a vital role in detecting and disrupting criminal abuse of Australia's financial system."
Current AUSTRAC records show 417 digital currency exchanges and 5,112 remittance registrations Australia-wide. Since January 2024, AUSTRAC has issued to 106 entities reminders of their obligations. The entities are across all sectors and those entities which continue to be non-compliant could face further regulatory action.
"AUSTRAC's reporting entities are the front line of defence in detecting criminal activity, which is why it is important for all of them to take their AML/CTF obligations seriously.
"Businesses working in this space who are not meeting their obligations can expect to hear from us."
AUSTRAC remains concerned about money laundering risks in the DCE sector in particular and will continue to address these concerns through the Crypto Taskforce established last year and its regulatory function more broadly.
About AUSTRAC
AUSTRAC (the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre) is the Australian Government agency responsible for detecting, deterring and disrupting criminal abuse of the financial system to protect the community from serious and organised crime.
Through intelligence led regulation, and enhanced intelligence capabilities, AUSTRAC collects and analyses reports and information to generate financial intelligence.
