New Anti-Money Laundering Laws: What Clients Need to Know

Until now, Australia’s AML/CTF regime has primarily focused on banks and financial institutions. Under the new rules, the regime will expand to include a broader range of professional service providers, including accountants, lawyers and real estate agents.

These obligations apply to organisations providing certain “designated services”, which may include:

• Assisting with the establishment, purchase, sale or restructuring of companies or trusts
• Assisting with the purchase, sale or transfer of real estate
• Assisting with certain debt or equity raising or financing transactions
• Acting in transactions involving client money or assets
• Assisting clients to plan or carry out certain transactions
• Providing trust and company services, including acting, or arranging for another person to act, as an officeholder, nominee or trustee
• Acting as a company’s registered office

What this means for our clients

As part of these new obligations, Ruddicks will be required to verify and maintain records of:

• Our clients’ identities
• Any person authorised to act on behalf of a client
• Beneficial owners of non-individual clients who hold a 25% or greater ownership interest 

For clients engaged with Ruddicks prior to 1 July 2026, there are certain transitional measures that mean we may not have to re-verify your identity immediately because of the new legislation, unless there is a significant change in the nature or purpose of the business relationship.

However, the legislation does require periodic reviews of client information. These reviews may be triggered by changes in circumstances or by routine compliance timeframes.  As a result, a large proportion of our clients will be subject to these identification re-verification procedures over the next year or two.

To support this process, Ruddicks has partnered with FeeSynergy and Equifax to assist with client identification for existing and new clients. Their platform provides a streamlined onboarding experience while maintaining bank-level security standards for identity verification.  The process is performed via your mobile phone and can be completed in less than two minutes.

As Ruddicks approaches its 40th birthday, we know many of our valued clients have been with us for much of that journey.  It may seem strange to be asked to verify your identity after all this time!  Please don’t be offended by any request to do so – we’re just doing our utmost to comply with the new rules.

Further information about the onboarding process will be provided closer to 1 July 2026. In the meantime, please contact our office if you have any questions.

We thank you in advance for your cooperation.

DISCLAIMER:

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.

The content of this newsletter is general in nature. It does not constitute specific advice and readers are encouraged to consult their Ruddicks adviser on any matters of interest. Ruddicks accepts no liability for errors or omissions, or for any loss or damage suffered as a result of any person acting without such advice. This information is current as at 8 May 2026, and was published around that time.  Ruddicks particularly accepts no obligation or responsibility for updating this publication for events, including changes to the law, the Australian Taxation Office’s interpretation of the law, or Government announcements arising after that time. 

Any advice provided is not ‘financial product advice’ as defined by the Corporations Act.  Ruddicks is not licensed to provide financial product advice and taxation is only one of the matters that you need to consider when making a decision on a financial product. You should consider seeking advice from an Australian Financial Services licensee before making any decisions in relation to a financial product.  © Ruddicks 2026