What does AUSTRAC require us to verify for every new customer?
Before providing a designated service: the customer's identity, any representative's identity and authority, beneficial owners, and PEP or sanctions status.
For every customer, before you start providing a designated service, you need to establish four things on reasonable grounds:
- The identity of the customer (the legal person or arrangement you are serving).
- The identity of anyone acting on the customer's behalf, plus their authority to act.
- The identity of any beneficial owners (for non-individual customers).
- Whether the customer, any representative or any beneficial owner is a politically exposed person (PEP) or designated for targeted financial sanctions.
You also need to establish the nature and purpose of the business relationship or occasional transaction. The specific information you collect and the specific individuals you identify will depend on the entity type. See AUSTRAC's Overview of initial customer due diligence (Reform) page.
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