From 1 July 2026, amendments to federal Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) laws will require firms like ours to complete additional identity checks before we can provide certain services.
These changes are designed to help prevent money laundering by criminal organisations and the funding of terrorist groups.
This page contains information on:
What AML/CTF is and why we have to complete identity checks
Which services are affected (designated services)
What documents you may be asked to produce
How the process works (to be determined)
Our commitment to privacy and secure data handling.
We will continue to update this page as more information comes to light.
What is AML/CTF and why are we obliged to comply?
Australia’s AML/CTF laws are expanding to cover additional professional services, including law firms, from 1 July 2026.
In practice, before we commence providing clients with a designated service, we will need to:
Collect information about our clients and verify their identity
Understand the purpose of the matter or transaction
Assess and document any money laundering and terrorism financing risks
Keep clear records of our decisions
Important: We are legally required to undertake these activities to comply with these requirements.
Which services are affected (designated services)
Not all services provided by our firm are subject to AML/CTF legislation. Whether AML applies depends on whether we are providing a “designated service” for your matter.
Designated services for professional services typically include where we assist with:
Creating or restructuring a company or legal arrangement (for example, certain entity or trust structuring work)
Acting on behalf of someone in certain roles or nominee arrangements for a company or legal arrangement
Buying, selling or transferring a company or legal arrangement (for example, aspects of a business sale or transfer)
Selling or transferring a shelf company
At the start of each matter, we’ll confirm whether the work involves a designated service and what level of checks are required.
What documents might I be asked to produce?
The amount of documentation you will be required to provide will depend on the AML/CTF risks associated with the client and the services being performed. Typically, clients will be required to provide the following documents:
Photo ID (for example, passport or driver’s licence)
Proof of address (for example, utility bill or bank statement)
Company, trust or SMSF documents (if relevant)
Ownership and control information for complex entities
Source of funds information (for higher-risk matters)
If you are acting for a company, trust or other structure, we will need to identify and verify the individuals who ultimately own or control it.
Key Data Security Point: We will not hold copies of any of these documents. You will provide these via a secure platform purely for this verification process.
Our Commitment to privacy and secure data handling
We take privacy and data security seriously. Information you provide is handled in accordance with:
Australian privacy laws
Our professional confidentiality obligations
AML/CTF regulatory requirements
Your data is used only for identity verification, compliance checks and onboarding purposes. We do not use it for marketing and we don’t sell or trade client data.
We have integrated a third-party identification platform called First AML to perform these checks and do not store your personal identification documents.
All data transmitted and stored via the First AML platform is encrypted both in transit and at rest using the industry standard AES-256 encryption algorithm to encrypt data. First AML production data and systems are hosted in Amazon Web Services (AWS), and physical security is managed by AWS at the Perimeter, Infrastructure, Data and Environmental layers.