Terrorist Financing Prevention Measures in Australia Get Mixed Ratings

Australia’s efforts to prevent terrorist financing have received mixed ratings from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), according to a recent report. While the country scored high marks in some areas, it fell short in others.

Risk Assessment and National Cooperation

• Australia was rated compliant for its assessment of risk and application of a risk-based approach.
• It received a largely compliant rating for national cooperation and coordination with other countries to combat terrorist financing.

Money Laundering Offenses and Asset Confiscation

• Australia’s laws regarding money laundering offenses were deemed compliant.
• Its confiscation and provisional measures to prevent the misuse of assets were also found to be compliant.

Targeted Financial Sanctions

• The country scored well in its targeted financial sanctions related to terrorism and terrorist financing, as well as those related to proliferation.

Areas for Improvement

• Australia received a partially compliant rating for several areas, including:
  • Financial institution secrecy laws
  • Customer due diligence
  • Record keeping
  • Reliance on third parties
• It was also rated non-compliant in some areas, such as:
  • Transparency and beneficial ownership of legal persons and arrangements

Regulation and Supervision of Financial Institutions

• Australia’s regulation and supervision of financial institutions were deemed largely compliant.
• However, its financial intelligence units and powers of supervisors received a partially compliant rating.

Law Enforcement and Investigative Authorities

• The country was rated compliant in several areas related to law enforcement and investigative authorities, including:
  • Responsibilities
  • Powers
  • Cooperation with international partners
• Its cash courier regulations were also found to be compliant.
• Australia’s statistics on terrorist financing and sanctions were deemed compliant.

Call for Improvement

• The report noted that there are still some areas where Australia needs to improve, particularly in terms of transparency and beneficial ownership of legal persons and arrangements.
• The country was encouraged to strengthen its mutual legal assistance and extradition agreements with other countries.

Conclusion

While Australia has made progress in preventing terrorist financing, it still faces challenges in several areas. To effectively combat the threat of terrorism, the government will need to address these shortcomings and improve its measures to prevent terrorist financing.