Andersons’ Approach to Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing

New compliance requirements are coming.

From 1 July 2026, law firms (along with accountants, conveyancers, real estate agents and certain dealers) will be brought into Australia’s Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) regime. These obligations already apply to banks and other financial institutions and are now being extended across professional services to help deter, detect and prevent financial crime.

What this means in practice

As part of these changes, we will be required to:

verify your identity before, and sometimes during, the course of our engagement
request additional information where we are providing certain “designated services”
undertake further checks where you are acting on behalf of a company, trust or other entity

In these circumstances, we may also need to identify and verify the individuals who ultimately own or control any entity associated with you (for example, those with 25% or more ownership, or senior decision making authority). We are legally required to complete these checks before we can provide certain services. The checks we undertake are risk based, meaning the level of information we request will be proportionate to the associated AML/CTF risk.

What you can expect from us

We understand that providing this information may take time, and we are committed to making the process as straightforward as possible. Our approach is designed to be clear, efficient and secure. We will:

only request information that is legally required
keep the process as simple and efficient as possible
handle all information securely and in accordance with our privacy obligations

These requirements are mandatory under the AML/CTF regime and are designed to help protect clients, businesses and the broader community.

Our commitment

These reforms aim to strengthen the integrity of Australia’s financial system. We are committed to implementing them in a way that minimises disruption while continuing to deliver the high level of service our clients expect. For more information about these reforms, you can visit austrac.gov.au