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Serious offence

A serious offence is:

  • any offence against a Commonwealth, state or territory law punishable by imprisonment for 2 years or more
  • an offence against a law of a foreign country that involves an act or omission, and would be punishable by imprisonment for 2 years or more if it had occurred in Australia, 

See

Subsection 39B(2) of the AML/CTF Act

Significant cash transaction report (SCTR)

A report about a transaction involving Australian or foreign physical currency with a value of A$10,000 or more submitted by an entity which has obligations under the FTR Act.

A Solicitor SCTR is a SCTR made by a solicitor.

See

FTR Act 1988 Part 2, division 1 and 1B

Structuring

Structuring is where a person:

  • splits a single transaction into 2 or more transactions with the sole or dominant purpose of avoiding a transaction being reported in threshold transaction reports
  • travels with cash or monetary instruments in a way that has the sole or dominant purpose of avoiding cross-border movement reporting. For example, a family asking a child to carry cash so that each individual is under the threshold.

Structuring is an offence under the AML/CTF Act. 

See

Threshold transaction reports

Cross-border movement reports

AML/CTF Act 2006 sections 142 and 143

Suspect transaction report (SUSTR)

A report that motor vehicle dealers who act as insurers or insurance intermediaries must make if they have reasonable grounds to suspect that a transaction may be related to money laundering, terrorism financing, tax evasion, proceeds of crime or any other serious crimes under Australian law.

See

FTR Act 1988 section 16

Suspicious matter report (SMR)

A report a reporting entity must submit under AML/CTF Act if they have reasonable grounds to suspect that a transaction may be related to money laundering, terrorism financing, tax evasion, proceeds of crime or any other serious crimes under Australian law. An SMR must also be submitted if the reporting entity has reasonable grounds to suspect the customer or an agent of the customer is not who they say they are.

See

AML/CTF Act 2006 section 41 (1)

Shell bank

A shell bank is a corporation that:

  • is incorporated in a foreign country
  • is authorised to carry on a banking business in its country of incorporation
  • has no physical presence in the country in which it is incorporated, and
  • isn’t an affiliate of another corporation that’s incorporated in a particular country, authorised to carry on banking business in its country of incorporation, and has a physical presence in its country of incorporation.

Physical presence means the corporation carries on a banking business at a physical place in that country and has at least one full-time employee who performs banking-related duties there. It involves meaningful decision-making and management.

See section 94A of the AML/CTF Act

Senior managing official

For the purposes of reliance, a senior managing official is an individual who makes, or participates in making decisions that affect the whole, or a substantial part, of the business of a reporting entity or who has the capacity to significantly affect the financial standing of a customer.

Senior officer

For the purposes of a correspondent banking relationship, a financial institution can determine who is a senior officer, depending on the size and complexity of the organisation. A senior officer doesn’t have to be a person in executive management.

The senior officer should have sufficient knowledge of the business’s money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation financing risk exposure. They should also have sufficient authority to make decisions affecting the business’s risk exposure.