Austrac speaks up for remittance sector

Westpac's attempts to wind back its dealings with the remittance sector may be becoming more difficult, after anti-money laundering regulator Austrac expressed hope the banking sector may continue to provide services to alternative remitters.

Austrac yesterday volunteered a comment on its website that it would "continue to work with alternative remitters and banks in conjunction with other Government agencies to address the complex set of issues underlying" the sector's difficulties.

Westpac, the last bank active in this sector, had said it would close remitter accounts as of Monday this week, but will now voluntarily keep them open until a hearing in the Federal Court later this week.

Austrac may be speaking out because of a Government commitment to broker further discussions between the Australian Remittance and Currency Providers Association and the country's major banks to find a short-term resolution.

Austrac said that, in its view, "alternative remitters represent varying degrees of risk to banks, with appropriate AML/CTF systems and controls in place.


"Banks should be able to manage high-risk customers, including alternative remitters. Austrac encourages banks to continue to assess the particular risks relating to their customers in line with the risk-based approach.

"Further, AUSTRAC encourages banks to engage with alternative remitters on measures that the sector could take both immediately and in the longer term to meet banks' internal risk standards."

Banks in general have taken the view that the costs of compliance are too high and that their correspondent banks would be reluctant to accept payments from Australian banks that act for remittance providers.