Auditor’s report fails to dampen AUSTRAC funding issue
With some financial services organisations including the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) questioning the funding of Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), an Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) report has acknowledged it is difficult to quantify the effectiveness of the organisation.
ASFA has consistently argued that the financial services industry and superannuation funds in particular should not be levied to pay for AUSTRAC's operations, and the ANAO report will do little to dampen those claims.
The Auditor-General's report, tabled in Parliament this week, found that "while AUSTRAC's financial intelligence is highly valued both domestically and internationally, its effectiveness in terms of countering money laundering and the financing of terrorism and other forms of serious and organised crime is not readily quantifiable".
The report said data on the impact of AUSTRAC's financial intelligence on the operations of law enforcement agencies was limited.
However it said the Australian Taxation Office and DHS-Centrelink had reported using AUSTRAC's financial intelligence in more than 2700 cases in 2011-12, resulting in savings of more than $255 million.
ASFA and some other financial services organisations have argued that because they do not derive a direct benefit from AUSTRAC's operations, they should not be levied by the Government to fund its operations.
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