Even as the Federal Government starts dismantling some of the more onerous aspects of corporate governance, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (Austrac) has reminded affected companies that the first anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism compliance reports are due at the end of the month.

Although the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act legislation affects many aspects of the financial services sector, it doesn’t affect insurance brokers directly unless they have an involvement with premium funding.

All affected organisations are expected to now have in place an anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing program, as well as customer identification and verification procedures.

Austrac CEO Neil Jensen says reports should show whether reporting entities “have allocated adequate resources and have unlimited controls, reporting lines, communication protocols and processes for review”.

Businesses may face civil penalties for non-compliance.

Austrac says Australian financial services licensees don’t have to submit a report if the only designated service they provide is to “make arrangements for a person to receive a designated service”.