Money Laundering Activity
Identifying money laundering activity is easier across a pattern than in one transaction, and staff usually only see one. Four features make a single transaction worth an internal report.
No commercial logic. The arrangement costs the customer money or effort and achieves nothing obvious. This is the strongest single indicator.
Reluctance to explain. Evasiveness about source of funds, or an explanation that changes when questioned.
A third party in the background. Someone else providing funds, giving instructions or benefiting, without being the customer.
Unusual urgency or indifference to cost. Willingness to accept a worse outcome to complete quickly.
None of these prove anything on their own. Staff are not being asked to reach a conclusion about a customer, only to pass an observation on internally so someone with the full picture can assess it.
AUSTRAC publishes guidance for reporting entities. This is general information rather than legal advice, and obligations vary by state and territory.
See Sentrient’s AML/CTF course and incident reporting software.
4 Ways to Identify Potential Money Laundering Activity
There are a range of indicators to help you identify potential money laundering activity, ranging from suspicious customer behaviour, international transactions, larger than normal transactions and suspicious transactions. The presence of a single indicator may not necessarily raise suspicion but could warrant further monitoring and examination. Multiple indicators are more likely to result in a […]
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