Issue #20    June 2019

Making sure crime doesn't pay

The recent media reporting on Operation Nova, a Police investigation into the Comanchero gang, is a timely reminder of the importance of our anti-money laundering measures. During the investigation, Police restrained $3.7 million of assets under the Criminal Proceeds Recovery Act alleged to be the proceeds of crime.

Every year around $1.35 billion from the proceeds of fraud offending and illegal drugs is laundered through New Zealand businesses. The true cost and social impact is much higher.

It is important that businesses take their obligations under the AML/CFT Act seriously so we can make it hard for criminals to launder their money. Keeping our money clean is vital to protecting New Zealand’s reputation as a good place to do business.

Most businesses want to do the right thing, and we are here to help them have the policies and procedures in place to do that. We know how disruptive and harmful it can be to a business that is unwittingly taken advantage of by money launderers or those involved in financing terrorism. Complying with the Act will help reduce the chance of that happening.

It’s been great to see so many businesses showing such a willingness to work with us to comply - it’s a good sign of things to come. As always, our staff are here to help, and we are looking forward to working with more businesses to prevent money laundering and financing of terrorism in New Zealand.

Mike Stone
Director
AML Group, Regulatory Services, Department of Internal Affairs
 

In this issue:

• New online tool and website improvements
• Helping businesses comply with the Act
• Formal warning issued to Auckland-based business
• Lifting the AML/CFT capability of our Pacific partners

New online tool and website improvements

We want to make it easier for reporting entities, and members of the public, to find the information they need about our AML/CFT system. To help with this we have recently refreshed our website. The improvements include a new look landing page, a newsfeed function and sector specific pages. If you haven’t already, please visit our website and take a look at the changes.

Work is also underway on AML Online, a new secure platform for reporting entities to engage with us online. In AML Online, reporting entities will be able to manage their business details, delegate access to others, submit documents securely, and send us queries. This year’s annual report may also be submitted entirely online. This replaces the process used in previous years where a manual PDF had to be completed and submitted.

Helping businesses comply with the Act

Our Regulators have been out and about across New Zealand conducting onsite reviews of businesses, and meeting with them to talk through what their obligations are under the AML/CFT Act. There are some common issues emerging in the newly joined sectors. This includes risk assessments not being tailored to the individual businesses and not enough practical focus on policies and procedures to mitigate ML/FT risks.

To help businesses do this better, we are running a series of 16 training workshops nationwide. The focus of the workshops will be on understanding what is needed to get their risk assessments and AML/CFT programmes right and to comply with the law. More information and details on registering is available on our website.

Over the next month we will be extending our education outreach activities to help businesses get ready to submit their annual reports. We are also ramping up efforts to get dealers in high value goods ready to meet their AML/CFT obligations from 1 August 2019.

Formal warning issued to Auckland-based business

We recently issued a formal warning to Auckland-based Denton Morrell Limited, under the AML/CFT Act. The business failed to meet a number of requirements under the Act including failing to conduct customer due diligence, failing to adequately monitor accounts and transactions, and failing to establish, implement or maintain an AML/CFT programme.

It is imperative registered entities keep tabs on who they’re doing business with and constantly review potential customers and transactions. In the case of Denton Morrell Limited, many of its customers are from countries considered high risk jurisdictions by international AML/CFT standards.

We are committed to helping businesses understand and fulfil their AML/CFT obligations as we know how important brand and reputation are to businesses in New Zealand.

You can read more about the formal warning we issued on our website.  

Lifting the AML/CFT capability of our Pacific partners

Some of our staff have recently travelled to Vanuatu to start an assistance programme to build their AML/CFT supervisory capability.

This is part of a wider programme led by the Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) to establish stronger AML/CFT systems across the region. The APG is a Financial Action Task Force (FATF) styled regional body based in Sydney. The APG reached out to the New Zealand DIA team to assist with lifting the capability of AML/CFT supervision across the Pacific Region. Vanuatu is one of 11 countries receiving support from international partners.

New Zealand was one of the founding members of FATF, who are based in Paris. We have continued to be a key player in the development of AML/CFT internationally.

We encourage everyone to refer to our website dia.govt.nz/amlcft regularly for updates on our guidance, information and advice.

The team are ready to assist either by phone - 0800 25 78 87 - or email the team on AMLCFT@dia.govt.nz.