From 1 July 2026, Australian law firms will be subject to new Anti‑Money Laundering and Counter‑Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) rules.

The changes to the AML/CTF regime are designed to strengthen Australia’s financial system and align with international standards aimed at preventing money laundering, the movement of the proceeds of crime and the financing of terrorist activities.

To comply with these rules, Williams + Hughes must undertake additional client due diligence before we can provide certain services to clients. This applies to existing and new clients.

What information will we need from you?

For certain services that we supply, called “designated services”, we must collect and verify specific information about you and/or your organisation. This can include:

• Identity details (for you and, where relevant, people connected to your entity)
• The purpose of the transaction or matter
• The source of funds used in the transaction
• Information about individuals or entities connected to you (for example, clients you represent, beneficial owners, trustees, directors or related companies).

We may have to ask you for this information even if we have acted for you for a long time.

What are designated services?

Designated services generally cover activities that create, move or manage legal structures or assets, such as:

• Assisting with property transactions
• Forming or restructuring companies, partnerships or trusts
• Arranging finance or capital raising.

What might we ask you to provide?

We aim to make compliance straightforward while meeting our legal obligations. As part of this, we will use a specialist AML/CTF compliance onboarding platform, InfoTrack. InfoTrack are Australian owned and all data is hosted securely in Australia. They are a long-standing provider of services to the Australian legal industry.

If we need to obtain information from you under the new laws before we start work on your matter, we will send you a link to provide certain information and documents via the InfoTrack platform.

Depending on the service, we (via InfoTrack) may ask for:

• Proof of identity documents (for you and relevant persons connected to your entity)
• Key entity documents (e.g. company constitution, trust deed)
• Details of beneficial owners
• Structure charts for complex entities and trusts
• Source of funds or source of wealth information
• Details about the nature and purpose of your matter
• Information about related entities or people involved in your matter.

Providing this information quickly will mean we can commence work on your matter without delay.

Usually, verification is done once. If your circumstances change, the information becomes out of date, or your matter requires further checks, we may ask for updated or additional information during our engagement.

What happens if you don’t provide information to us?

If you do not provide the information we request from you, we may not be able to act for you or may need to end our engagement. If we continue to act without verifying the information requested, we may be in breach of our statutory obligations.

How do we protect your privacy?

We are committed to client confidentiality. Any personal or sensitive information we collect will be stored securely and handled in line with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), our professional obligations and our internal data protection policies. We will only use the information to meet AML/CTF obligations or as required by law.

We appreciate your cooperation as we implement the new requirements.

If you have any questions in relation to AML/CTF or any of the matters outlined above, please contact your usual Williams + Hughes representative.