Following on from our April review of Tranche 2 Here is our latest update as we continue to track and identify relevant updates and bring you our Compliance Radar for September 2023.

Raising the bar on verification: How Australian accountants, lawyers and real estate agents can prepare for the new tighter client ID regime

Legal reforms which toughen Australia's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) regime are imminent.The proposed reforms include extending the existing AML/CTF legislation to capture additional 'Tranche 2' high risk professional entities. These include lawyers, accountants, trust and company service providers, real estate agents and dealers in precious metals and stones.LAB Group estimates that implementing the Tranche 2 reforms will increase the number of AUSTRAC-regulated reporting entities by over 700%, from approximately 15k entities to more than 120k.Professional firms that will soon be subject to the next phase of anti-money laundering regulation should be acting now to embed client ID verification or risk getting caught out. LAB Group welcomes the implementation of the Tranche 2 reforms, as they will help to protect the wider Australian population from the impacts of money laundering. However, with many professionals still unaware or unclear of their new reporting obligations, LAB Group believes flexibility is key to addressing these KYC changes in the domestic market.Lawyers, accountants, auditors, real estate agents and dealers in high value items all engage with their clients in different ways. Therefore, a range of customer solutions need to be available to fit current and future operating and business models. Digital data capture, a compliance portal, APIs, scorecard alignment and a range of electronic verification sources (Document Verification Service, Government databases, digital ID and biometric screening) should all be considered as part of any solution. LAB Group has created configurable tools to uncover the true identity of every customer.