Australia’s financial watchdog AUSTRAC recently launched its ML/TF risk assessment of the junket tour operations (JTOs) sector owing to the high risk associated with the sector. AUSTRAC collected and analysed information from casinos, banks, law enforcement agencies etc. to conduct its analysis.
This assessment focused on financial intelligence collected between April 2018 and March 2019. Notably, this was a period of high junket tour activity. The risk assessment revealed that ML is the primary threat in the JTOs sector. This threat is most commonly posed by high risk customers from foreign jurisdictions. Indeed, restrictions on international migration due to the COVID-19 pandemic led to a significant decline in Australia’s JTO activity in 2020.
AUSTRAC’s risk assessment will help casinos perform risk assessments on their own, note their vulnerabilities, enhance diligence and report suspicious activity. In addition, this will help regulatory bodies and law enforcement agencies in their investigations of suspicious activity.
Source: AUSTRAC