A reporting entity must develop and maintain policies, procedures, systems and controls that appropriately manage and mitigate the risks of money laundering, financing of terrorism and proliferation financing that it may reasonably face in providing designated services. A reporting entity must identify and assess the risks of money laundering, financing of terrorism and proliferation financing that it may reasonably face. Before commencing to provide a designated service to a customer, a reporting entity must establish on reasonable grounds the identity of the customer. A reporting entity must appoint a person as the entity’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing compliance officer. A reporting entity must enrol on the Reporting Entities Roll. A reporting entity that forms a suspicion on reasonable grounds must give the AUSTRAC CEO a report. A person commits an offence if the person discloses to another person the existence of a suspicious matter report. A reporting entity must keep records that appropriately document its compliance.

Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006

§ 26F

s 26C

Glossary

AML/CTF acronyms and terms, plainly

27 acronyms expanded and 29 terms defined, anchored to the AML/CTF Act 2006, Compilation No. 62 (C2026C00274) and the AML/CTF Rules 2025 (F2026C00274). Entries marked s 5 are statutory definitions — the Act’s own words control; ours is a plain-language pointer, not a substitute.

Last updated 23 July 2026

At a glance

The acronyms, expanded

Every one is defined in full below. This is here because most people arrive wanting the expansion and nothing else.

Illustration: a professional facing three tall documents, the middle one picked out in gold — The Act, the Rules, the guidance — in that order of authority

AML: Anti-Money Laundering
CTF: Counter-Terrorism Financing
AML/CTF: Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing — always with the slash, as the Act writes it
AUSTRAC: Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre
CDD: Customer Due Diligence
ECDD / EDD: Enhanced Customer Due Diligence
SCDD: Simplified Customer Due Diligence
KYC: Know Your Customer
ML/TF: Money Laundering / Terrorism Financing
PF: Proliferation Financing
PEP: Politically Exposed Person
SMR: Suspicious Matter Report
TTR: Threshold Transaction Report
IFTI: International Funds Transfer Instruction
LPP: Legal Professional Privilege
DFAT: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade — publishes the consolidated sanctions list
FATF: Financial Action Task Force
FIU: Financial Intelligence Unit — AUSTRAC's second hat
PDD: Personnel Due Diligence
RE: Reporting Entity
SoF / SoW: Source of Funds / Source of Wealth
TCSP: Trust and Company Service Provider
IVS: Identity Verification Services — the Commonwealth services now branded IDMatch
DVS: Document Verification Service
FVS: Face Verification Service
CPR: Credential Protection Register
CTF Act: Shorthand for the AML/CTF Act 2006 (Cth)

Every term, in full

A

AML/CTF: Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing. Always written with the slash, as the Act writes it.
AML/CTF compliance officers 5 · statutory: the Act's term (defined s 5, p 8) for the individual designated under s 26J(1) (p 102) to oversee and coordinate the program. Must be at management level with sufficient authority, independence and resources (s 26J(2)). Eligibility bars; 28 days to fill or refill the role (s 26K, p 103); AUSTRAC notification (s 26M, p 105). Sometimes called the "designated individual" — the Act does not use that phrase.
AML/CTF policies: the entity's policies, procedures, systems and controls dealing with the matters s 26F lists (risk management and compliance, including training, vetting and independent evaluation). One of the two living program documents.
AML/CTF Rules: the AML/CTF Rules 2025, subsidiary instrument made by the AUSTRAC CEO under s 229(1) (p 359); carries the operational detail. Binds like the Act does. Current compilation F2026C00274. (Made by the AUSTRAC CEO, not the Minister — a common slip.)
AUSTRAC: the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre: regulator of this regime and the national financial intelligence unit — two hats, one agency.

B

Beneficial owners 5 · statutory: an individual who ultimately owns (25% or more) or controls a customer. Two limbs; either suffices. A finding that no individual qualifies is itself a recordable finding.

C

Compilation / compilation ID: the registered consolidated version of an Act or instrument at a date, identified by a register ID (the Act's current: C2026C00274, No. 62, 1 July 2026). The ID pins exactly which words are being quoted — it's why every citation on this site carries one.
Credential Protection Register (CPR) / IDLock: the Commonwealth register, operating since 2022, that flags identity documents reported as compromised so they cannot be used to establish an identity fraudulently. A flagged document returns a non-match through the DVS. On 31 August 2026 the Attorney-General announced **IDLock**, a myGov-based service that will let individuals block, unblock and monitor the use of their own eligible documents through the DVS — a small-scale trial in late 2026, wider availability from 2027. Practical effect for a reporting entity: a DVS non-match is not by itself evidence of fraud, and your CDD procedures need a defined next step for it.
Customer due diligence (CDD): the s 28+ machinery: identify the customer's ML/TF risk, then collect and verify information appropriate to that risk, on reasonable grounds, before providing the service — and keep it current afterwards (ongoing CDD, s 30).

D

Delayed CDD: s 29's narrow, pre-conditioned corridor allowing a service to commence before verification completes — six cumulative conditions, policies written in advance. A deferral, never a waiver.
Designated services 6 · statutory: an activity listed in the s 6 tables. Coverage attaches to the service, not the profession. The Tranche 2 services live in tables 2, 5 and 6.
Document Verification Service (DVS): the Commonwealth service, delivered under the *Identity Verification Services Act 2023* (Cth) and branded **IDMatch**, that checks whether the biographic details on an identity document (name, date of birth, document number) match the issuing agency's record. It returns a match or non-match — not a copy of the record, and not a decision about the customer. Available only to organisations that hold a participation agreement and meet the access, consent, audit and annual-reporting conditions attached to it. Verifying a document is one input to CDD; the reporting entity still makes and records the decision.

E

Enhanced customer due diligence (EDD): the stronger measures s 32 requires in specified higher-risk situations (e.g. foreign PEPs, post-SMR continuation).
Enrolment / Reporting Entities Roll: Part 3A registration with AUSTRAC. The Roll itself is kept by the AUSTRAC CEO under s 51C (p 170); enrolment must be applied for no later than 28 days after the day you **commence providing** a designated service (s 51B, p 169), with details kept current within 14 days of change (s 51F, p 171). Note the order: you are a reporting entity because you provide a designated service — the Roll records that status, it does not create it.

F

Face Verification Service (FVS): the companion service under the same Act: a one-to-one check of a facial image against the image held on a specified government record for that individual. Consent-based, and separately authorised — participation in the DVS does not carry FVS access.

I

IDMatch: the public brand, at idmatch.gov.au, for the Australian Government's identity verification services administered by the Attorney-General's Department: the DVS, the FVS, the Credential Protection Register and the National Driver Licence Facial Recognition Solution. The services are the same ones the *Identity Verification Services Act 2023* (Cth) governs; IDMatch is the name they are published and supported under.

L

Legal professional privilege (LPP): the client's protection over legal advice and certain communications. Expressly preserved: s 242 confirms the right to refuse privileged information or documents, and that describing material is not itself waiver; s 242A provides a claims guidelines regime.

M

ML/TF risk: money laundering / terrorism financing risk. The variable the whole program reads: assessed for the business (s 26C), rated per customer (s 28(3)), driving verification depth, monitoring frequency and EDD triggers.

O

Ongoing CDD: s 30: monitoring the business relationship, keeping information current, re-verifying at a risk-appropriate frequency, and re-checking when doubts arise.

P

Politically exposed person (PEP)s 5 · statutory: individuals in (or formerly in) prominent public positions, in three categories (foreign, domestic, international-organisation), extending to family members and known close associates. A risk category, not an accusation — foreign PEPs trigger mandatory EDD.
Pre-commencement customer: a customer of the entity from before 1 July 2026: initial CDD is deferred to defined triggers (s 36), while ongoing monitoring applies. Deferral, not grandfathering.

R

Reliance: the s 37A mechanism letting one entity rely on another's CDD under a written agreement with assessments — the doing moves; the legal obligation never does.
Reporting entitys 5 · statutory: a person who provides a designated service. The status that carries the obligations. It attaches from providing the service, not from enrolling, and not from any AUSTRAC decision.
Reporting group: related entities grouped under s 10A, with a lead entity and the ability for one member to discharge obligations for another (s 236B) — discharge of performance, not transfer of ownership.

S

Structuring: s 142 (p 270): being, or causing another person to become, a party to two or more non-reportable transactions for the sole or dominant purpose of ensuring the money would not give rise to a threshold transaction. A criminal offence — and note the Act reaches the person who *causes* another to become a party, so arranging a split for a customer is caught.
Suspicious matter report (SMR): the s 41 report (p 146) when suspicion on reasonable grounds forms in connection with a designated service. Three clocks, all in s 41(2) (p 148): 3 business days standard; 5 business days where s 41(2)(aa) applies (some — not all — of the report's information may be privileged, and the privilege belongs to someone other than you); 24 hours for terrorism financing. Under s 41(2A) the report may be refused entirely where **all** the information grounding the suspicion is privileged.

T

Threshold transaction / TTRs 5 · statutory: movement of $10,000 or more in physical currency (or virtual assets) in a designated service; reported within 10 business days (s 43(2), p 151). "Not less than $10,000" — the threshold includes exactly $10,000. Routine — not a suspicion. Where the report contains information believed privileged, it must be accompanied by an LPP form (s 43(3)(aa)).
Tipping off: s 123 (p 251): the criminal offence of disclosing SMR-related information where the disclosure would or could reasonably be expected to prejudice an investigation. Penalty: imprisonment for 2 years or 120 penalty units, or both. The reason report status is never discussed with anyone, in either direction — the safe practice is one identical answer for every customer.
Tranche 2: the common (non-statutory) name for the professions brought into the regime from 1 July 2026: legal, conveyancing, accounting, real estate, and dealers in precious metals and stones. The phrase appears nowhere in the Act. It comes from the explanatory memorandum to the amending Bill, which gives it as an aside while setting out the first of the Bill's three key objectives:

General information only — not legal advice. Where a term is a statutory definition, the Act’s words control and the line here is a plain-language pointer to them.