Super Alert – 18 July 2025: AUSTRAC 2025/26 priorities, ASIC infringement notices for unlicensed financial advice
Welcome to the weekly KHQ Super Alert. It was a quiet news week with only two items to report (a nice break before Parliament resumes on Tuesday!). This week AUSTRAC provided further information in relation to its regulatory priorities for the financial year, and ASIC reminded financial services licensees to ensure all their advisers are registered before providing personal advice.
AUSTRAC – Priorities for 2025/26
On 17 July 2025, AUSTRAC issued a further media release in relation to its areas of focus and priorities for the 2025/26 financial year, following the release of its expectations last week for existing reporting entities and upcoming regulated businesses (see our Super Alert of 11 July 2025).
In the latest media release, AUSTRAC explains that its focus will be on ‘risk and behaviour at an industry and sector level rather than focusing solely on individual entities’. For example, it is ‘focusing efforts where the risk of harm is greatest, for example in digital currencies, which allow funds to move across borders quickly, cheaply and virtually anonymously’. It is also preparing its ‘systems to bring around 80,000 new businesses under the AML/CTF regime’.
Click here for details.
ASIC – Infringement notices for unlicensed financial advice
On 17 July 2025, ASIC issued a media release in relation to infringement notices which were issued last month ‘to two AFS licensees whose financial advisers provided personal advice while unregistered’. ASIC has reminded licensees to ‘check [an] adviser’s registration status on the Financial advisers register to ensure that it says ‘registered’ before the adviser gives any personal advice to retail clients’.
In both scenarios, the licensees registered their advisers after becoming aware of their unregistered status and self-reported the breach to ASIC. ASIC took this background into account in determining to issue infringement notices.
Click here for details.
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