What you need to comply:
- Appoint an AML Compliance Officer
- Written Risk Assessment of your business
- Written Compliance Programme setting out your policies, procedures and controls to mitigate the risks
- Customer due diligence
- Ongoing account monitoring
- Reporting on suspicious activity and prescribed transactions
- Audit of your AML regime every two years
- Submit an annual report to the DIA
Download our “Steps to Compliance Chart“ .
(112K PDF)
What happens if we don’t comply?
The DIA conducts desk-based reviews as well as on-site audits on reporting entities – they have the power to perform these on-site audits unannounced.
The penalties for non-compliance in the case of an individual, is either or both of the following:
- A term of imprisonment of not more than 2 years
- A fine of up to $300,000
For a firm, the penalty is, a fine of up to $5 million.
Phase 1 of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act has been in force since 2013. It applies to banks, casinos and a range of financial service providers. In 2017, a test case for anti money-laundering regulations resulted in an Auckland forex broker slapped with a $5.3 million fine and its director banned from business. More recently, the DIA have accused another firm of failing to meet the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering of Financing Terrorism Act’s requirements for customer due diligence, account monitoring, record keeping and risk assessment – the DIA sought a fine of $2.6m.
