Only a couple of weeks after the financial intelligence regulatory body of Australia revealed it had decided to expand a due diligence probe into the three biggest casino companies in the country, the watchdog described local banks as important partners in its battle against financial crime.
The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) is looking to take advantage of its improved relationship with local banks. So far, the regulator and the country’s financial sector have joined forces to provide their support to a high-profile investigation that is being carried out by the FBI and the Australian Federal Police and was officially unveiled two weeks ago.
As explained by Nicole Rose, CEO of the financial intelligence watchdog, banks have played an important part as service providers to other entities that are currently regulated by the AUSTRAC, so they were able to provide more information into other sectors and add value to the regulator’s operations. The financial regulatory body has already shifted its attention to the Australian casino sector, as confirmed by Ms Rose.
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As Casino Guardian already reported, two weeks ago, the AUSTRAC informed the biggest casino companies – Crown Resorts, SkyCity Entertainment and The Star Entertainment Group – that it has started simultaneous enforcement investigations into their operations.
The probes were rolled out after a compliance exercise called Operation Slalom found that the counter-terrorism funding (CTF) and anti-money laundering (AML) programs of Australian casino operations, as well as their identification and treatment of politically exposed individuals, were unsatisfactory. According to the AUSTRAC CEO, the termination of high-roller gambling junket operations would reduce the risk for local casinos to be exploited by organisations that simply want to launder some dirty money. Unfortunately, this was not enough, because cash operations across the Australian casino sector lacked enough visibility.
Now, the owners of casino venues hosted in the five most populous cities in Australia are facing enforcement actions and investigations that could result in various actions, including casino operating licence restrictions and monetary fines.
Australian casinos had always been considered associated with high risk for money laundering because of the nature of their business. That is exactly why the AUSTRAC now wants to have the casino companies’ activities checked, with the financial regulatory body saying that the local casino sector has been at risk of criminal misuse due to the products and services it currently offers to consumers.
As soon as the casino actions were announced two weeks ago, National Australia Bank Limited (NAB) shared that its case was escalated to the enforcement team by the AUSTRAC. The bank’s issues with the obligations to “know its customers” and to comply with anti-money-laundering rules were first unveiled in 2017. The financial regulatory body, however, refused to provide more details regarding the bank.
- Author
Daniel Williams
