Anti money laundering and countering finance of terrorism act

Since January 1, real estate agents have been required by law to comply with the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act. This legislation is in line with legislation in many other jurisdictions internationally, and is a necessary tool in combating international money laundering and financing of terrorism.

As with many new pieces of legislation , we see another generation of snake oil salesmen over-selling the actions that agents need to take under the legislation - obviously for the benefit of the snake oil salesmen. We saw it last year when the Asbestos legislation came into force, when there were numbers of organisations over-selling the steps building owners needed to take with regard to asbestos in their buildings. It is the same this time round.

But those agents who take the time to read the legislation will realise that the steps they need to take, particularly with existing clients, are very simple. Those agents who take the time to familiarise themselves with the actual legislation will realise that they can take very simple steps to comply, which will be much less likely to irritate clients. Conversely, attempting un-necessarily to obtain personal and private information from clients just invites a backlash. Actually taking the time to read the legislation is a 20 minute investment that will likely save many agents a great deal of future client angst.