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Authors: Henry Brandts-Giesen, Neil Russ
Published: 10 June 2020
Pages: 184

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 obligations are onerous, but 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 can to take to manage risk.

Content outline

• What is Money Laundering?
• The Problem with Money Laundering
• The Money Laundering Process
• Global AML and CFT Initiatives
• The Historical Approach to Money Laundering in New Zealand
• The Application of Global AML Standards in New Zealand
• AML/CFT Act Phase 1
• AML/CFT Act Phase 2
• Compliance
• Customer Due Diligence
• Beneficial Ownership
• Suspicious Activity Reports
• High-Risk Jurisdictions
• Wire Transfers
• Record Keeping
• Audit
• Annual Reports
• DIA
• FIU Quarterly Typology Reports
• Recent Developments
• Enforcement
• Reported Judgments