From Michael West, one the few journalists left in Australia:
…last week when a fund manager touched base and bewailed, albeit with good reason, how real estate agents were still excluded from all obligations under Australia’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act.
…The reason for this AML (Anti-Money Laundering) apartheid is the reluctance of government to ping other sectors with the cumbersome burden of compliance….The first tranche of the AML regime was brought in for the financial services and gaming sectors in 2007…Imagine if real estate agents and luxury car dealers suddenly had to identify for the regulator AUSTRAC a plethora of their customers’ details and transactions. They may not have to imagine for too long.
…Almost eight years on, nothing has happened though compliance experts say there is little choice but for the second tranche to be introduced…FATF is the Financial Action Task Force, the global body which sets the regulatory and operational standards for combating money laundering and terrorist financing…If Australia finds itself grouped with Somalia as a laggard on financial integrity, it may cost the country billions in foreign investment.
At war with terror, except in real estate.
