With CPA Australia and the Institute of Public  Accountants, our joint submission outlined how the intelligence to be generated by the services of our members to be brought into Australia's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism (AML/CTF) regime will enhance the capability of law enforcement to disrupt financial crime.

Drawing on our recent joint submission on the proposed reforms to Australia's AML/CTF regime, our key points were:

• Harness all available intelligence from our members by leveraging their existing reporting obligations with other government agencies.
• Develop sector specific guidelines to enable effective implementation by new reporting entities.
• Facilitate the sharing of information between the AML/CTF regulator and other private sector organisations.
• Undertake a review of AML/CTF compliance obligations and only retain those that improve effectiveness of the regime or provide actionable intelligence..

Our submission addressed how our members will contribute against two of the terms of reference of the inquiry.

(c) proposed ‘tranche two’ reforms to extend the existing AML/CTF legislation to services  provided by lawyers, accountants, trust and company service providers, real estate agents  and dealers in precious metals and stones and implications for law enforcement;

We detailed the existing professional and statutory obligations on our members who are  already heavily regulated by other government agencies, including the Tax Practitioners  Board (TPB), Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and the Australian Securities and Investments  Commission (ASIC). For law enforcement to harness the intelligence provided by our members, the sharing of  information across all government regulators will be required.

(f) the role and response of businesses and other private sector organisations, including  their level of awareness, assistance to law enforcement, and initiatives to counter this  crime;

We consider our role to raise awareness with members on which of the services they provide that are considered at risk of exploitation by criminals to launder money and finance terrorism.

The regulator, AUSTRAC, to provide practical sector specific guides and establish a mechanism that allows sharing of information between public and private organisations.

The government, to share information across departments and agencies and raise public awareness to create a willingness to identify themselves when seeking a  designated service.

We reiterated our support for our members contributing their intelligence to enhance the capability of law  enforcement to disrupt financial crimes. Key will be working collaboratively between  government departments and agencies and the AML/CTF reporting entities.