AUSTRAC — the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre — is the federal agency that supervises Australia's AML/CTF regime and serves as the national financial intelligence unit (FIU). It administers the AML/CTF Act 2006, maintains the Reporting Entities Roll, receives suspicious matter reports (SMRs), threshold transaction reports (TTRs) and international funds transfer instructions (IFTIs), and shares intelligence with law-enforcement and revenue agencies. AUSTRAC also has supervisory powers — it can review programs, audit reporting entities, issue infringement notices, and pursue civil penalty proceedings worth tens of millions of dollars per contravention. From 1 July 2026 AUSTRAC's supervised population roughly triples as the Tranche 2 reforms bring in legal, accounting, real estate, conveyancing, bookkeeping and other previously unregulated sectors.
What AUSTRAC means in practice from 1 July 2026
AUSTRAC is your primary regulator from the moment you enrol. Every Tranche 2 business has to register, lodge reports, retain records, and be ready to respond to AUSTRAC information requests. The agency has signalled it will use risk-based supervision in the early years — meaning bad programs get attention long before perfect ones do.
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