This paper is intended to give a high-level understanding of the legislative response to the challenge described above. That is to say, it is focussed on the new regime of preventative measures contained in the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (AML/CFT Act). The Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Act 2008 (FSP Act) may also be regarded as partly a response to international AML/CFT requirements, in so far as it requires a registration system for financial service providers, and is referred to briefly.

Except by way of background to the AML/CFT Act, this paper does not address the broader matrix of legislation applying in New Zealand to money laundering or the financing of terrorism, such as the Crimes Act 1961 (Crimes Act), Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 (MD Act), the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009 (CPRA) and the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002 (TSA), which contain the main predicate offences – that is, the offences which constitute money laundering or financing of terrorism.

It also does not deal with the pre-existing preventative measures regime contained in the Financial Transactions Reporting Act 1996 (FTRA) and the TSA, which will continue to apply to certain entities not covered by the AML/CFT Act (for example law firms acting in the ordinary course of business of legal practice and receiving funds for the purposes of deposit or investment or for settling real estate transactions). Other seminars and papers on those topics have been convened or published by the New Zealand Law Society over the years.

This paper provides only brief comment, by way of background, on the nature of money laundering or financing of terrorism activities, on the practical aspects of setting up a compliance programme and undertaking risk assessment and reporting. For those topics readers are referred to the various publications of the Financial Intelligence Unit of the New Zealand Police, the Ministry of Justice, and the three supervisors under the new AML/CFT regime.