From 1 July 2026, new Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) requirements came into effect for accountants and other professional service providers across Australia.
For our clients, this means there may be occasions when we need to ask for some additional information or verify your identity before we can provide certain services.
While this introduces an extra step in some of our processes, these requirements provide an important additional safeguard. They are designed to increase transparency, reduce the risk of fraud and financial crime, and help protect the individuals, families and businesses we work with.
Why have the requirements changed?
Australia's AML/CTF framework has been expanded to include a broader range of professional services, including certain services provided by accountants.
Accountants can play an important role in establishing and managing companies, trusts, superannuation funds and other financial structures. The new requirements are designed to provide greater visibility over who is behind these structures and transactions and reduce opportunities for them to be misused for money laundering, fraud or other financial crime.
As a result, hmh is now required to undertake additional checks in certain circumstances, including confirming the identity of clients and other individuals involved in particular entities, structures or transactions.
When might we need to verify your identity?
The requirements do not apply to every service we provide.
Additional verification is more likely to be required when we are assisting with certain services covered by the AML/CTF legislation. Depending on your circumstances, these could include:
- Establishing a company or trust
- Establishing or making certain changes to corporate or trust structures
- Setting up a self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF)
- Assisting with certain transactions such as:
- The sale or purchase of a business
- The sale or purchase real estate
- Providing certain services relating to company officeholders, shareholders or other ownership interests
- Providing other services that fall within the AML/CTF framework
If additional checks are required for work we are undertaking for you, your hmh team member will let you know.
Who might need to complete verification?
Depending on the service and the entities involved, we may need to verify the identity of one or more people connected with your affairs.
This could include:
- individual clients
- company directors, shareholders and beneficial owners
- trustees
- SMSF members
- Beneficiaries
- authorised representatives or other people who ultimately own or control an entity.
For long-standing hmh clients, this may mean we occasionally ask you for information that we haven't needed to request previously. It doesn't mean there is an issue with your affairs. It simply reflects the additional verification processes we are now required to follow.
What information might we ask for?
The information required will depend on your circumstances and the service being provided.
We may ask you to confirm personal information such as your full name, date of birth and residential address, and provide identification such as a driver's licence or passport.
For companies, trusts and other structures, we may also need information that helps us confirm ownership, control or the individuals associated with the entity. In some circumstances, further information may be required to satisfy our AML/CTF obligations.
An additional layer of protection
We understand that being asked to provide identification or additional personal information can sometimes feel inconvenient, particularly when you have worked with us for many years.
However, these checks form part of a broader framework designed to protect Australia's financial system, and the people and businesses operating within it, from fraud, identity misuse, money laundering and other financial crime.
They also provide another layer of assurance around the integrity of the structures and transactions we assist our clients with.
Information collected as part of these requirements will be handled securely and in accordance with applicable privacy requirements. We will only request information necessary to meet our obligations and provide the services you require.
What do you need to do?
For most clients, there is nothing you need to do now.
If verification or additional information is required as part of work we are undertaking for you, a member of the hmh team will contact you and explain what is needed.
We're here to make the process straightforward
Like many regulatory changes, the new AML/CTF requirements mean some of the processes behind the scenes at hmh are changing. Our priority is to meet these obligations while keeping the experience for our clients as simple, secure and efficient as possible.
Where AML/CTF verification or compliance procedures are required, the time incurred by hmh in completing these additional steps will be charged at our standard hourly rates.
If you have any questions about the new requirements or why particular information is being requested, please speak with your hmh adviser.
Want to learn more? Further information about Australia’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing reforms can be found on the AUSTRAC AML/CTF Reform Hub, which provides guidance on why these changes have been introduced and what they mean for businesses and clients.