Frequently Asked Questions on Independent Review

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An independent review is an impartial assessment of a reporting entity’s current Anti-Money Laundering/ Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) Part A Program to: 

• assess their effectiveness of the Part A Program having regard to ML/TF risk;
• assess whether their Part A Program complies with the AML/CTF Rules; 
• assess whether their Part A Program has been effectively implemented; and 
• assess whether they complied with their Part A Program

• To meet the requirements of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) Rules Instrument 2007 (No. 1) under either of the below:

                   o Part 8.6 for a reporting entity that has adopted a Standard AML/CTF program or

                   o Part 9.6 for reporting entities that have enrolled as a Designated Business Group (DBG) 

                     and adopted a joint AML/CTF Program 

• Apart from regulatory requirement, independent review reports of AML/CTF Part A Program are presented by reporting entities to their Board and Senior Management to demonstrate their current level of compliance in meeting the requirements of their Part A program.

Yes. AUSTRAC has provided the below information:

• Independent review can be performed by someone internal or external to the reporting entity as long as they have not been involved in:

                  o performing any of the functions or measures being reviewed

                  o designing, implementing or maintaining Part A of the AML/CTF Program

                  o developing money laundering/ terrorism financing risk assessment or related internal 

                     systems and controls. 

• It is also important to assess if the independent reviewer is someone who:

                   o understands the business being reviewed

                   o understands money laundering/ terrorism financing risk (ML/TF) risks

Yes. AUSTRAC has provided information on how to choose your reviewer irrespective of whether they are internal or external. They are as below:

• Reviewer’s association to any professional body requiring its members to meet professional standards
• Reviewer understands and applies the AML/CTF obligations in relation to your business
• Reviewer is able to conduct the independent review through testing of your internal systems and controls
• Reviewer is not influenced by people who were involved in the risk assessment or development of the AML/CTF Part A Program so that the reviewer is able to ask those people any questions about your policies and procedures

This must be decided by the reporting entity based on:

• the size of its business or organisation
• what kind of business or organisation they have
• how complex the business or organisation is
• business or organisation’s level of money laundering/terrorism financing risk.

AUSTRAC informs that high-risk organisations should have independent reviews done every two to three years. Further, if your business or organisation has changed significantly (examples include but not limited to mergers & acquisitions, commencement of acceptance of cash for transactions, outsourcing of AML/CTF obligations to another entity etc)

Whilst your entity may engage someone internal or external to perform the independent review, we believe the below factors would encourage you to consider AML SureCheck as your preferred external reviewer:

• foremost, AML SureCheck meets all regulatory requirements for engagement as your independent reviewer.
• secondly, AML SureCheck are specialists in financial crime compliance reviews and are not involved in consulting for  reporting entities. This ensures no potential or perceived conflict of interest at any time when engaging us as your independent reviewer. 
• AML SureCheck is open to co-souring arrangement (i.e. working alongside your internal auditor or reviewer on selected components of AML/CTF Part A Program). This helps in keeping your compliance costs lower and also improve operational efficiency when choosing us as your independent reviewer. 
• last but not the least, AML SureCheck ensures that the independent review scope and methodology is tailored to your businesses ML/TF risk. Additionally, our efficient and professional approach during the engagement makes sure any impact to your staff’s current workload is kept to a minimum.