Australia's contribution to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing - the Fintel Alliance - was given its official launch on Friday. Under its terms, Australia's financial intelligence agency Austrac, and 18 other partners including the Australian Federal Police, New South Wales Police, the Australian Tax Office, along with the Big Four banks, Macquarie Bank, Western Union and PayPal, and other key players in the "money trail" will share data and collaborate analysis. The Minister for Justice, Michael Keenan, called this "the first true public-private partnership of its kind in the world, and brings together under the one roof the collective knowledge and resources of Government and industry". The chief financial officer from one of the Big Four told Banking Day that the difference between the previous system, where transactional data was sent to Austrac, versus the Fintel Alliance approach is that information will now be shared - a point of differentiation strongly emphasised by Paul Jevtovic, Austrac's chief executive officer. Speaking to Banking Day after the official launch, he agreed that until now the interaction between the banks and Austrac was transactional and a one way collection of data from individual banks, and it needed to change. "That's because organised crime doesn't just bank with the one bank. Terrorist financiers are smarter than just banking with the one bank," Jevtovic said. "While the banks will continue to report [transactions], they are now part of an intelligence hub, also receiving information and working with us to understand it, as no one understands a customer's behaviour better than their bank. "When you combine the knowledge of the banks with our knowledge it becomes a powerful tool. We need to maximise that tool, joining the dots with geospatial mapping, network analysis and risk profiling models." Jevtovic noted that the other major change is information would be shared in real time. "It is no use telling me what I know after the event. We need to receive, analyse and disseminate information instantly. That's really what's going to influence everybody's responses." Although officially unveiled last Friday, the Fintel Alliance has been in operation since November last year, ironing out wrinkles before expanding its membership. "We are up and running with almost 20 analysts working on five projects; intelligence has flown out to the private sector well and that intelligence has been acted on with good outcomes are already," Austrac's national intelligence manager, John Moss, told Banking Day. Three of the projects already underway include examining the Panama Papers, identifying and profiling online money mules and improving the use of data from the Australian Cyber Online Reporting Network. The Alliance has also established an innovation hub to provide a collaborative approach to design and test financial products, and explore ways to target emerging technologies such as blockchain.