This book is only available in PDF format

Authors: Henry Brandts-Giesen, Neil Russ
Published: 14 June 2018
Pages: 73

Introduction

This paper is intended to assist New Zealand lawyers with a new and important compliance obligation to assist in the detection and prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing. The authors wish to emphasise that whilst the obligations are onerous, they are manageable. The first stage in the compliance process is to understand the context. From there lawyers will hopefully realise that they are but one class of a wide group of professionals and businesses who are dealing with ensuring their businesses are compliant. The New Zealand Law Society (NZLS) is committed to guiding all lawyers through the transition and can draw on the experience and expertise of members and external specialists who are familiar with the issues and solutions.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an introduction to the basic concepts, general overview of the problems and processes and outline the various mechanisms for anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) in New Zealand, how AML and CFT legislation will apply to lawyers and law firms, and an outline of other practical measures law firms will need to take.

Content outline

• What is money laundering?
• The problem with money laundering
• The money laundering process
• Global AML and CFT initiatives
• Domestic AML and CFT frameworks
• Money laundering in a New Zealand context
• AML/CFT Act
• Phase 1 of the AML/CFT Act
• Phase 2 of the AML/CFT Act
• General Obligations under the AML/CFT Act
• Prescribed Transactions Reporting
• How all these obligations apply to lawyers
• Captured activities
• Risk based approach
• Focus on core compliance obligations for lawyers
• The role of the AML/CFT Compliance Officer
• Customer Due Diligence
• Practical issues
• The role of the DIA as supervisor