Afterpay Notice to Appoint Auditor

The Afterpay Pty Ltd Section 162(2) Notice issued by AUSTRAC on 12th June 2019 is attached. Get reading!

For those of us in the AML legal and compliance field, and those in reporting entities, we keenly await these documents to find out what really is at the nub of a matter as press releases are just that. And as a person who has previously been authorised I can fully understand the work and expense involved for both Afterpay, and the auditor, contained in these 4 pages of the Sect 162 Notice.

I will be writing a more detailed article on this Notice in due course. The key points at this stage are (paraphrased):

1. Afterpay must identify 3 or more individuals (not firms) who have an understanding of AML Act, AML/CTF Programs, and operational implementation AND have audit and reporting writing skills;
2. AUSTRAC will choose the auditor, not Afterpay;
3. The audit is from 19th January 2015 (probably the date of commencement of providing services);
4. The scope includes governance arrangements in general as well as specific sections of the Act (identification, SMRs, AML/CTF Programs etc.)
5. All to be completed within 120 days;
6. And to be paid for by Afterpay.

The Section 162 Notice can be downloaded here.

https://amlexperts.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Afterpay_Pty_Ltd_-_section_162_notice-1.pdf

What does the Notice actually mean.

I have drawn a mind map to link the section numbers to the actual text of the Act and Rules. And yes, it is complicated.  It can be downloaded here:

Afterpay Section Mind Map. 

There are sections on:

1. AML/CTF Program Governance;
2. Customer Identification;
3. Low risk services;
4. Section 41 Suspicious Matter Reporting; and
5. AML/CTF Programs