July issue

Kia ora

As we bring you this latest edition of In the Know, I would like to acknowledge the departure of Mike Stone from his role as the Director of the AML/CFT group at the Department of Internal Affairs. Mike leaves a significant legacy, having been Director of the group for 6 years and having been instrumental to our ever-developing role and expertise as a regulator. 

Mike has now moved on to our Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade where he's taken on a key role in implementing a sanctions regulatory regime for New Zealand.

We thank Mike for his huge contribution and expert leadership and wish him the very best in his new role.

As we reach the midpoint of annual reporting season, we want to thank those who have already submitted your Annual Reports. We’re pleased to see that completion rates to date are ahead of last year's figures. In this issue of In The Know, we address common queries about submitting Annual Reports. Additionally, we look back over last year's supervisory activity and report back on some notable recent international events.
 

Ngā mihi nui,
Daniel Ziesler
Acting Director AML/CFT

A Year in Review: DIA's Commitment to AML/CFT Compliance and Education

As we reflect on the past financial year, the AML/CFT Group is pleased to share that we have continued our commitment to education by conducting over 200 proactive educational engagements with businesses. Additionally, our team of regulators completed more than 6000 email interactions, providing information and support to help entities understand and meet their AML/CFT obligations.

We also conducted a total of 260 compliance assessments across various reporting entities throughout the country. In most cases, businesses received recommendations to strengthen their policies, procedures or controls, with many being required to formally remediate their Compliance Programmes.

From this activity, in order to address serious or systemic non-compliance, we issued three formal warnings, secured an enforceable undertaking, two civil injunctions and commenced civil proceedings against Sky City Casino Management Limited.

We are grateful to all our AML/CFT reporting entities and stakeholders for your continued efforts in educating and implementing measures to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Your efforts play a crucial role in deterring illicit finance and protecting New Zealand’s financial system.

Updates from FATF

The most recent Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary took place in Singapore from 26-28 June 2024. This event brought together delegates from FATF’s Global Network of over 200 jurisdictions to further the collective effort to combat money laundering and terrorism financing. For further details on the overall outcomes from the plenary, as well as jurisdictions on the updated FATF grey and black lists, please check out the article on our website here.

A noteworthy development leading up to the plenary was the biannual FATF Ministerial meeting in Washington, where New Zealand was represented by the Honourable Nicola Willis, Minister of Finance. For insight into our strategic priorities and mandate, we encourage you to review the FATF Ministerial Declaration. The declaration emphasises shared goals and the broader direction of international AML/CFT efforts. Of particular note, the Ministers state:
“Further effort is required on supervision and preventive measures, beneficial ownership transparency, investigating and prosecuting money laundering, and confiscating the proceeds of crime. We reaffirm our commitment to support jurisdictions to put in place the tools needed to protect the financial system and the broader economy from the threats of illicit finance.”

Lastly, FATF have released its third follow up report following New Zealand’s Mutual Evaluation in 2021. New Zealand has been upgraded on five of FATF’s forty recommendations as a result of actions taken to strengthen our framework, including the new regulations that took effect on 1 June 2024. You can read the Follow-Up Report here: New Zealand's progress in strengthening measures to tackle money laundering and terrorist financing (fatf-gafi.org)

Pacific Supervisors' Forum 2024

The Pacific AML/CFT Supervisors’ Forum was held in Brisbane from 10 to 11 July.  This is a key event in sharing and understanding the AML/CFT supervisory trends and developments in the Pacific region. The forum, supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, was organised by the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS).

The event saw over 60 attendees from the APG’s 12 Pacific member jurisdictions: Cook Islands, Fiji, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu, alongside delegates from Australia, New Zealand, the United States and the World Bank. 

The Forum featured our very own Rocky Yuen, Natalie Stagg and Melisa Webster who shared their expertise on key topics including the supervision of designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBPs) and virtual asset service providers (VASPs), as well as effective AML/CFT engagement strategies. In addition, other critical topics were discussed including: 

• Correspondent banking relationships and de-risking practices within the Pacific context.
• Technical assistance needs and training opportunities.
• Mutual evaluations of jurisdictions.
• Risk Assessments and taking a risk-based approach to AML/CFT supervision.

Melisa Webster (DIA), Natalie Stagg (DIA), Kirsty Pleace (FMA), Rocky Yuen (DIA), Brandt Botha (FMA)

Annual Reporting

As you may already know, annual reporting has commenced and we’re pleased to see that many of our reporting entities have already filed for the 2023-2024 financial year. Annual reports must be filed by 31 August 2024.

One of the common queries we get is around our AML Online portal and the use of RealMe. 

RealMe is a government authentication and identity verification service that can be used to log into many New Zealand government and public sector sites and services. You can find out more about RealMe on their help page here.

AML Online is the platform for businesses to engage with the DIA and file annual reports which requires a verified RealMe identity to access. If you are responsible for filing the annual report and are based overseas, you can still apply for a RealMe verified identity (if you have not already done so) provided you hold NZ citizenship or a NZ passport and are able to take your own photo as part of the application process. Otherwise, if you are based overseas and do not meet the requirements for RealMe, you should have received an email by now.

If you have not received an email regarding the AML/CFT annual report and your business falls within the definition of reporting entity under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act 2009, please contact us at amlcft@dia.govt.nz.

Updated guidance for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs)

The updated guidance tailored to assist VASPs with the recent changes to the AML/CFT Act and its associated regulations, is now available on our website.

To view the updated guidance, please click here.