Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1989 |
| Headquarters | Level 7, Tower A, Zenith Centre, 821 Pacific Highway, West Chatswood, New South Wales |
| Employees | 278 (2015) |
| Ministers responsible | |
| Agency executive |
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| Website | www |
Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) is an Australian government financial intelligence agency set up to combat money laundering, organised crime, tax evasion, welfare fraud and terrorism. AUSTRAC was established in 1989 under the Financial Transaction Reports Act 1988 and continued in existence under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (AML/CTF Act). AUSTRAC's head office is in Sydney, New South Wales.
The Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth) came into law on 12 December 2006, and extended the existing monitoring regime to cover financing of terrorism and listed terrorist organisations. Under Division 103 of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth), it is illegal to finance terrorism. The Attorney-General's Department maintains a list of outlawed terror organisations. In 2014 AUSTRAC released a report, Terrorism financing in Australia 2014, which says, "Terrorism financing poses a serious threat to Australians and Australian interests at home and abroad."
Australia is a member of the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units and an observer in the Camden Assets Recovery Interagency Network and is a member of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) and the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes.
Certain classes of financial services are required to be reported to AUSTRAC, in particular bank cash transactions (i.e., notes and coins) of A$10,000 or more, as well as suspicious transactions and all international transfers. The information that AUSTRAC collects is available for use by law enforcement, revenue, regulatory, security and other agencies.
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