What You Need to Know
From 1 July 2026, new Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) laws come into effect. These laws are designed to help prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism and will apply to a range of legal services, known as designated services.
Designated services generally include matters such as conveyancing, establishing or restructuring companies or trusts, and assisting with certain commercial transactions. Further information about which of our services are considered designated services is provided below.
These requirements apply to all Australian law firms and may affect the way we manage your matter.
Under the AML/CTF laws, we are required to collect and verify certain information about you, your business (where applicable), and the transaction or matter for which you are seeking our assistance before we can provide a designated service. This process is known as Client Due Diligence (CDD).
We are also required to keep this information accurate and up to date for the duration of our professional relationship with you.
What Are Designated Services?
Under the AML/CTF laws, certain legal services provided by our firm are classified as designated services. These include, among other things:
- Assisting with the purchase, sale, or transfer of commercial or residential real estate
- Assisting with the establishment, acquisition, sale, transfer, or restructuring of a company, partnership, trust, or other business structure
- Receiving, holding, or managing client funds in trust in certain circumstances
- Arranging or assisting with equity or debt financing
- Acting on behalf of a person in relation to certain roles or nominee arrangements involving a company, partnership, trust, or other legal structure
- Providing a registered office address or principal place of business for a company or legal arrangement
Not all services we provide fall within the definition of designated services under the AML/CTF laws. For example, where you engage us solely to provide legal advice or to assist with dispute resolution, the AML/CTF requirements may not apply. Our staff can provide further guidance when you first contact us.
In many cases, however, matters that initially involve non-designated services may later develop into work that is subject to the AML/CTF laws. To avoid delays or disruption later in your matter, we may therefore undertake client due diligence at the outset of the relationship where this is considered appropriate.
What We Will Ask You to Provide
To meet our obligations under the AML/CTF laws, we use InfoTrack, a secure third-party provider, to collect and verify much of the information we require.
We will send you a secure electronic link to complete an InfoTrack Client Due Diligence (CDD) Form. This form will ask you to provide information about yourself and, where applicable, your business or the entity you represent.
For example, if you are instructing us as an individual, we will ask you to provide your full name, residential address and date of birth. If you are acting on behalf of a company, trust or other entity, we will require additional information about the entity and its ownership and control.
As part of the verification process, you may be asked to provide documents such as:
- Current photographic identification, such as an Australian driver’s licence or passport.
- Other identification documents, such as a birth certificate or citizenship certificate.
- Financial or transaction documents, including bank statements, payslips, contracts, or agreements relevant to the matter or your business arrangements.
- If you are acting on behalf of another person or entity, evidence of your authority to do so, such as a power of attorney, appointment letter, board resolution, or other authorising document.
Depending on the nature of your matter and your individual circumstances, we may also request additional information. This may include your nationality, source of funds or wealth, the purpose of the transaction or matter, and whether you hold, or have held, a prominent public position in Australia or overseas, or with an international organisation. Individuals in these roles are referred to as Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) and may include senior politicians, judges, ambassadors, senior military officers, senior government officials, and senior executives of state-owned enterprises or international organisations.
In some circumstances, we may need to request further information or documentation to comply with our legal obligations before we can provide a designated service.
Client Onboarding and AML/CTF Process
1. Initial Enquiry
When you contact us for legal assistance, we will collect some preliminary information about you or your business. This may include your contact details, the type of entity you operate through (such as a company or trust), and the nature of the legal services you require.
Where the services you require are designated services under the AML/CTF laws, we are generally required to complete Client Due Diligence (CDD) before we can provide those services.
To facilitate this process, we will send you a secure link by email or SMS to the InfoTrack Client Due Diligence (CDD) platform. You will be asked to verify your identity and provide information and supporting documentation relating to yourself, your business (if applicable), and the matter on which you are seeking our assistance.
2. Verification and Assessment
Once you have completed the CDD process, we will review the information and documents you have provided. Depending on the nature of your matter, we may need to request further information or clarification.
In most cases, once we are satisfied that we have met our obligations under our AML/CTF Program, we will confirm the scope of our engagement and provide you with our Costs Disclosure Statement and other engagement documentation.
In limited circumstances, where it is appropriate to do so, we may commence work on your matter before all AML/CTF requirements have been completed, provided this is permitted under the AML/CTF laws and our internal compliance procedures.
If we are unable to obtain the information required to satisfy our AML/CTF obligations, we may be unable to accept or continue acting on your behalf.
3. Commencement of Our Engagement
Once our AML/CTF requirements have been satisfied (or where a permitted exception applies), we will send you our engagement documentation, including confirmation of the scope of work and our Costs Disclosure Statement.
If you have any questions about these documents, please contact our office and we will be happy to assist.
Our engagement will commence once you have accepted the terms of our engagement.
What If I Am an Existing Client?
If you are an existing client as of 1 July 2026, you will not generally be required to complete the Client Due Diligence (CDD) process solely because the new AML/CTF laws have commenced.
However, we may need to undertake CDD if there is a significant change to our relationship with you or your business, or if we are otherwise required to do so under the AML/CTF laws.
Examples of circumstances where we may ask you to complete the CDD process include:
- you instruct us in a new matter involving a designated service;
- there is a change to the ownership or control of your business, such as a change in directors, shareholders, trustees or beneficiaries; or
- there are other material changes to your circumstances that require us to update our records or meet our ongoing legal obligations.
If we need any additional information from you, we will let you know and guide you through the process.
What Additional Information Might Be Required From You
As part of our AML/CTF client due diligence process, MNG Lawyers may request additional information or documentation to verify your identity, understand the parties we are acting for, and assess whether any further checks are required.
Depending on your circumstances and the nature of your matter, this may include details relating to your source of funds and/or source of wealth.
Where a company, trust, or partnership is involved, we may also be required to identify directors and the individuals who ultimately own or control the entity.
What Happens If You Cannot or Do Not Provide Information?
If you are unable or choose not to provide the information we are required to obtain, we may not be able to act for you. If we have already commenced work, we may be required to cease acting.
We may also be required to stop acting if continuing to do so would place us in breach of our legal or professional obligations.
Will There Be a Cost?
The client due diligence process will involve searches of external databases, including government and regulatory registers (such as identity verification services and ASIC registers) to confirm identity and business details. In addition to the search costs will be our legal costs associated with undertaking the required due diligence.
Any fees charged for these searches will be passed on to you. These costs will be set out in your Costs Disclosure Statement and Costs Agreement or otherwise explained to you before they are incurred.
More information please click on the Law Institute of Victoria link below.
If you have any questions about these costs, please contact our office.
How Your Information Will Be Used
We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal information securely. Your information is collected and used in accordance with:
- Australian privacy laws
- Our professional obligations of confidentiality
- AML/CTF regulatory requirements
We collect personal information directly from you and, where necessary, through secure third-party providers such as InfoTrack. Your information is stored securely and used only for the purposes required by law.
We may disclose your information to InfoTrack or other authorised service providers solely for the purpose of meeting our legal obligations. We do not use your information for marketing purposes, and we do not sell or trade client data.
For more information click on the InfoTrack link.
Retention of Personal Information
We retain your personal information for a period of seven years after it is collected or after we cease acting for you, whichever is later, in accordance with our legal and professional obligations.
Ongoing Monitoring
The AML/CTF laws also require us to undertake ongoing monitoring of certain matters to ensure that the information we hold about you remains accurate and up to date.
If additional information is required at any stage of your matter, we will contact you and explain what is needed.
If you have any questions about these requirements or how they may affect your matter, please contact our office.
