Serious financial crime knows no borders, demanding a united global approach to defeat it. 

“AUSTRAC’s global financial intelligence collaboration is critical to combat money laundering, terrorism financing (ML/TF) and other serious crimes,” says AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas. 

“Engaging with our neighbours in the region and working with international partners to build capability and produce and share financial intelligence plays a significant role in maintaining Australia's security.” 

Highlights of 2024 

AUSTRAC delivered its ‘in-house developed financial data analytics system called TAIPAN to five more countries in the Pacific – Vanuatu, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Marshall Islands and Palau. This system, which is already operating in Fiji, the Cook Islands, Tonga, Solomon Islands and Nauru, provides their financial intelligence units (FIU) with greatly-enhanced analytical capabilities to combat illicit financial flows.

This year, AUSTRAC posted its first Liaison Officer to the Pacific, based at the Australian High Commission in Fiji. This adds to our list of deployed officers in Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, London and Washington DC. This latest role bolsters AUSTRAC’s operational co-operation and information sharing with Pacific FIUs to tackle regional financial threats effectively. 

In addition some other activities included: 

• our analysts worked together in person with their Pacific counterparts on joint efforts on narcotics trafficking networks in the region
• we delivered a webinar series to Pacific FIUs on using financial intelligence to combat child sexual exploitation
• we engaged with Chinese authorities’ on a range of issues including AML regulation,  insights on emerging anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) threats and on digital currencies
• we launched a new information sharing platform to enable analysts from AUSTRAC, New Zealand and Southeast Asian FIUs to collaborate in a highly secure virtual environment.

Financial intelligence training

In 2024, we continued to deliver AUSTRAC’s world-class Financial Intelligence Analyst Course (FIAC) to over a hundred officers from FIUs in the Pacific, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. This course not only provides a shared approach to detecting and disrupting financial crime, but also gives analysts an opportunity to meet and build professional relationships with their counterparts from other nations. 

Multinational forums 

As a leader in the Egmont Group, AUSTRAC participated in the Heads of FIUs Forum and hosted an Egmont Committee Intercessional Meeting in Canberra in April. The Australian Attorney-General, the Hon Mark Dreyfus KC MP, joined AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas and foreign delegates at the meeting to discuss the importance of international co-operation in the fight against ML/TF. 

As co-chair of the ASEAN forum for FIUs, AUSTRAC also hosted the Financial Intelligence Consultative Group’s annual plenary in Melbourne in May, where a regional information-sharing platform was launched. In November, we also hosted the Pacific Financial Intelligence Community (PFIC) plenary in Brisbane.

Did you know? 

• In 2023/24, AUSTRAC facilitated 1,079 intelligence exchanges with 93 FIU partners. The top five exchange partners were the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand and Malaysia. 
• AUSTRAC has 107 Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) around the world to allow the exchange of financial intelligence and regulatory information with partners. 

That AUSTRAC (along with the Brunei FIU) is the Asia Pacific representative of the Egmont Group of FIUs, providing leadership to over 30 FIUs in our region.To learn more about our international partners, visit our website.