Reforms to the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (AML/CTF Act) commence on:

• 31 March 2026 for current reporting entities
• 1 July 2026 for tranche 2 entities (legal, accounting professions, real estate and jeweller industries). 

We have outlined our regulatory expectations for current reporting entities and tranche 2 entities to implement the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) reforms. We acknowledge the challenges these timelines present, but remain committed to working collaboratively with industry to support a successful rollout. 

On this page

• AUSTRAC’s regulatory focus and priorities
• Expectations for current reporting entities and tranche 2 entities
• Support and guidance from AUSTRAC
• Related pages

AUSTRAC’s regulatory focus and priorities

The AML/CTF reforms reinforce an outcomes-focused regulatory model. We are evolving our approach to prioritise:

• effective management of money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation financing (ML/TF/PF) risks
• quality reporting.

To support this, we have developed our regulatory priorities for 2025–26. The regulatory priorities are the areas we will be focusing the majority of our regulatory effort over the next 12 months. 

You can now read the 2025–26 Regulatory Priorities (PDF, 1.66 MB).

The regulatory priorities support the broader AML/CTF reforms priorities.

Expectations for current reporting entities and tranche 2 entities

On 4 July 2025 AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas announced AUSTRAC’s regulatory expectations for implementing the AML/CTF reforms.

You can read the full statement of regulatory expectations now

Part of the statement outlines expectations for both current reporting entities and tranche 2 entities. We have summarised them below.

Expectations for current reporting entities

If you are a current reporting entity, we expect that you:

• continue to implement your current money laundering controls
• develop and document implementation plans that manage your ML/TF/PF risks while you transition your policies, procedures and systems to meet the obligations under the reformed AML/CTF Act
• show sustained effort and progress against your implementation plans
• continue to manage your ML/TF risks through the changes, including implementing any tactical improvements in the short term
• act now to review and strengthen existing frameworks, systems and processes for managing ML/TF risks.

If your systems and controls are effective, AUSTRAC expects you to continue to manage your ML/TF risks while embedding reform-related changes.

If your systems and controls are not effective now, or you are ignoring your obligations, AUSTRAC expects you to update your systems and controls so they are effective. Failing to manage your ML/TF risk is a serious regulatory concern now and will be a serious concern when the AML/CTF reforms commence. Now is the time to act.