AUSTRAC has ordered the appointment of an external auditor to Western Union Financial Services Australia after raising concerns about the money remitter’s compliance with the AML/CTF Act.

Among the concerns were core anti-money laundering issues such as poor customer due diligence, delayed or non-reporting of suspicious matters, non-compliant international funds transfer instruction reporting and concerns about whether Western Union’s AML/CTF program is functional.

AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas said:

“Western Union has self-disclosed issues with its systems and consistently committed to remedial action however, AUSTRAC is still not satisfied that Western Union is meeting its AML/CTF obligations.

The recurrence of these issues raises concerns about the effectiveness of Western Union’s AML/CTF program and internal processes, which is why we are taking this action”.

The auditor will provide a report to AUSTRAC with information that will help Western Union better meet its compliance obligations and inform whether further regulatory action is required.

“AUSTRAC will then assess if further regulatory action is appropriate,” Mr Thomas said.