New industries and services to be regulated
From 1 July 2026, anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) obligations will apply to certain services typically provided by the following businesses:
- real estate professionals – such as real estate agents, buyers’ agents and property developers
- dealers in precious stones, metals and products
- lawyers
- conveyancers
- accountants
- trust and company service providers.
Additional virtual asset-related services will also come under AML/CTF regulation from 31 March 2026.
Find out if these changes will affect you on this page.
On this page
- Who is impacted
- Real estate and conveyancing services
- Legal arrangements, trust and company services
- Precious metals, stones and products services
- Virtual asset services
- Changes for current reporting entities
- Related pages
Who is impacted
Whether your business has AML/CTF obligations depends on the services it provides, known as designated services.
If your business provides one or more designated services that have a geographical link to Australia, you will have AML/CTF obligations.
This page provides an overview of the new designated services that AUSTRAC will regulate.
This is not a comprehensive summary of all designated services and exemptions.
For a full list of the new designated services, see Schedules 3 and 6 to the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Bill 2024 (the Bill) and the corresponding Explanatory Memorandum.
Real estate and conveyancing services
These designated services relate to the sale, purchase and transfer of real estate. Less substantial rights over land are not covered such as leases of 30 years or less, incorporeal hereditaments (e.g. easements), mortgagee interests or general property management.
| Description of service | Examples | Bill reference - Item and table number in Schedule 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Brokering the sale, purchase or transfer of real estate on behalf of a customer. | Typical seller’s and buyer’s agent services. | Item 1 of table 5 |
| Selling or transferring real estate without an independent real estate agent. | Property developers and other businesses who sell house and land packages, apartments off the plan, and blocks of vacant land in new subdivisions. | Item 2 of table 5 |
| Assisting a person with planning or executing a transaction to buy, sell or transfer real estate. This includes acting on someone’s behalf. |
Where a lawyer or conveyancer undertakes work to plan, execute, or give effect to the transfer of real estate from one person to another. Transfers of real estate that result from an order of the court or tribunal are not covered. For example, this would exclude a lawyers' transfer of real estate from a deceased estate following court orders. |
Item 1 of table 6 |
Legal arrangements, trust and company services
The ‘legal arrangements’ regulated by these services extend to express trusts, partnerships, joint ventures, unincorporated associations and any similar arrangement.
| Description of service | Examples | Bill reference – item number of table 6 in Schedule 3 |
|---|---|---|
|
Assisting a person in the planning or execution of a transaction to buy, sell or transfer a body corporate or legal arrangement. This includes acting on their behalf in a transaction. This service only applies if the person has or will have:
|
Activities relating to the purchase, sale or transfer of a business. This includes preparing or reviewing contracts, advising on due diligence, obtaining relevant government approvals and preparing financial settlements or documents. Transfers that result from an order of a court or tribunal are not covered. For example, this would exclude a family lawyer’s involvement in a transfer of a marital home amongst the parties to a court-ordered property settlement. |
Item 2 |
|
Receiving, holding, controlling or managing a person’s money, accounts, securities or securities accounts, virtual assets, or other property as part of assisting the person in the planning or execution of a transaction. This includes acting for or on behalf of a person in a transaction. |
Holding sale proceeds or purchase funds for a customer on escrow, or prior to being settled as trust property on the creation of an express trust. Having authority over a customer’s bank account to make payments on behalf of the customer, such as loan repayments to a financial institution. Businesses operating trust accounts in the absence of any other designated services are not covered. This could include, for instance, a legal practice that operates a trust account and exclusively offers criminal law advice, but undertakes no transactional work that would trigger a designated service. See section 6(5C) at Schedule 3 to the Bill. |
Item 3 |
|
Assisting in organising, planning or executing a transaction for equity or debt financing relating to a body corporate or legal arrangement. This includes acting on the person’s behalf in a transaction. |
Assisting a business through any capital or debt raising method, such as initial public offerings, venture capital, share purchase plans, debt financing, bonds, asset financing, loans and debentures. Services could include structuring, negotiating or documenting relevant transactions. |
Item 4 |
| Selling or transferring a shelf company. | Transferring or selling a company, including your own company, that has had no business activity. | Item 5 |
| Assisting in planning or executing in the creation or restructuring of a body corporate or legal arrangement. This includes acting on the person’s behalf. |
Drafting, reviewing and negotiating preparatory documents, such as company constitutions, partnership agreements, trust deeds or documents to support a merger or acquisition. Filing forms with ASIC for registering a company or business name or obtaining Foreign Investment Review Board approvals, ASX and ASIC waivers for clients. Corporations under the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 are not covered. |
Item 6 |
|
Acting as a director or secretary of a company, a power of attorney of a body corporate or legal arrangement, a partner in a partnership, a trustee of an express trust, or any other functionally equivalent position on behalf of a person. This includes arranging for another person to act in these roles. |
Drafting documents, identifying or introducing people, or otherwise performing tasks to make the relevant appointments or authorisations on behalf of a customer. Persons acting in a fiduciary capacity as a result of an order of a court or tribunal or acting as a trustee of a regulated debtor’s estate due to bankruptcy are not covered. |
Item 7 |
| Acting as a nominee shareholder of a body corporate or legal arrangement, on behalf of a person. This includes arranging for another person to act in these roles. | Drafting or amending documents to authorise a ‘nominee shareholder’. Identifying or introducing a person to act as a ‘nominee shareholder’ on behalf of a nominator. | Item 8 |
| Providing a registered office address or principal place of business address, of a body corporate or legal arrangement. | When a business provides a body corporate with a registered office address or principal place of business address in lieu of a genuine office address in which the person operates their business from. | Item 9 |
Precious metals, stones and products services
The reformed laws will apply to designated services involving $10,000 or more in physical currency or virtual assets (or a combination) when buying or selling precious metals, precious stones or precious products. This could be through a single transaction, or several transactions that are linked or appear to be linked.
If a business never accepts physical currency or virtual asset payments of $10,000 or more, or makes payment in physical currency or virtual assets of $10,000 or more, and only engages in other forms of funds transfer (for example, electronic funds transfer or payment by cheque or card) then it would not be regulated.
Examples of precious metals, stones and products include:
- precious metals: gold, silver, platinum, iridium, osmium, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium or an alloy with at least 2% weight of any of these substances
- precious stones: substances of gem quality with market-recognised beauty, rarity, and value, such as diamond, opal, pearl or garnet
- precious products: items made of, containing, or having attached to it, any precious metals or stones (or both), including jewellery, watches and other items of personal adornment, along with any article of goldsmith’s or silversmith’s wares.
The sale or purchase of bullion of any value and through any payment method (physical currency, virtual assets or otherwise) remains regulated as a separate designated service.
Virtual asset services
The terms 'virtual asset service provider' and 'virtual asset' replace the previously used terms 'digital currency exchange' and 'digital currency'.
The new laws update the definition of ‘virtual asset’ to ensure it keeps up with developments in a rapidly evolving sector.
The definition includes non-fungible tokens that function as a medium of exchange or as an investment, as well as governance tokens, such as those used to regulate participation in decentralised autonomous organisations.
In addition to exchanges between virtual assets and fiat currency, the reformed laws will apply to the following new virtual asset related services.
| Description of service | Examples | Bill reference - item number of table 1 in Schedule 6 |
|---|---|---|
| Exchanging or making arrangements for the exchange of virtual assets for money | Bitcoin for Australian dollars or vice versa, i.e. Australian dollars for Bitcoin. | Item 50A |
| Exchanging or making arrangements for the exchange of a virtual asset for another virtual asset of the same or a different kind | Exchanging Bitcoin for Bitcoin or exchanging Bitcoin for Ether. This includes mixing and tumbling activities. | Item 50B |
| Transfers of value involving virtual assets | Transferring virtual assets from payer to payee. | Items 29-31 |
| Providing a virtual asset safekeeping service | Safekeeping for virtual assets or private keys (e.g. virtual asset wallets), which includes the ability to hold, trade, transfer or spend the virtual asset per the owner or user’s instructions. | Item 46A |
| Financial services in connection with the offer or sale of a virtual asset where the business is participating in the offer or sale |
Providing any other designated service in the financial services table in section 6 of the Act, when a business is actively participating in the offer or sale. This could include services related to an initial coin offerings, such as accepting purchase orders and funds, underwriting, market making and placement agent activities. |
Item 50C |
Changes for current reporting entities
AUSTRAC already regulates certain services in the financial, bullion and gambling sectors.
For more information on how the new laws impact entities already regulated by AUSTRAC, visit the summary of what’s changed for current reporting entities.
Related pages
The content on this website is general and is not legal advice. Before you make a decision or take a particular action based on the content on this website, you should check its accuracy, completeness, currency and relevance for your purposes. You may wish to seek independent professional advice.