9 Designated Services
AUSTRAC lists 9 designated services including property transactions, entity creation, trust management, and nominee services.
Legal Sector | Compliance
AML Compliance for Lawyers & Conveyancers
Complete AML/CTF compliance guide for lawyers, solicitors and conveyancers. Learn about designated services, legal professional privilege protections, CDD requirements, and building your AML/CTF program.
Key Information
Building Your AML/CTF Compliance Program
AML compliance for lawyers requires balancing regulatory obligations with professional responsibilities. From 1 July 2026, lawyers, solicitors, and conveyancers providing designated services must meet AUSTRAC's AML/CTF requirements.
AUSTRAC Risk Assessment: Legal Professionals
AUSTRAC's Money Laundering National Risk Assessment 2024 found services provided by legal professionals pose a high money laundering risk in Australia. Your skills in creating legal structures and transferring ownership make you a key target for criminal exploitation. Australian authorities find criminals are using lawyers to legitimise their illegal proceeds.
You may not be aware you are helping criminals - legal services can benefit criminals in money laundering including:
- Managing money, securities and property
- Operating trust accounts to deposit, hold and disburse client funds
- Facilitating buying and selling real estate
- Establishing and administering complex domestic and offshore legal structures
- Setting up and managing charities
The 9 Designated Services
Legal professionals have AML/CTF obligations when providing these services:
- Assisting with real estate transactions (conveyancing, settlement)
- Selling/buying body corporate or legal arrangement (share sales, business transfers)
- Holding, controlling or possessing client property including money in trust accounts
- Equity or debt financing for body corporate
- Selling shelf companies
- Creating, restructuring or forming body corporate or legal arrangements
- Acting as director, secretary or trustee
- Acting as nominee shareholder
- Providing registered office address
Exceptions: Testamentary trusts and court-ordered arrangements are excluded.
Legal Professional Privilege
The reforms include clear protections for Legal Professional Privilege (LPP). Nothing in the Act takes away your right to refuse privileged information. When LPP applies, you submit an LPP form to AUSTRAC instead of the withheld information.
AUSTRAC Risk Indicators for Legal Professionals
Client behaviour red flags:
- Avoids face-to-face meetings
- Obstructive or secretive in dealings
- Doesn't understand their business sector
- Ends relationship when asked for more information
- Has changed professional advisers often without reason
- Identity documents appear forged or have inconsistencies
Transaction red flags:
- Requests nominee shareholding with no obvious reason
- Asks to buy aged shelf companies rather than new ones
- Buys companies in liquidation without economic reason
- Requests trusts unlikely to be appropriate or necessary
- Unusual changes to company ownership and legal structure
- Back-to-back property transactions with rapidly increasing values
Complex arrangement red flags:
- Requests to transfer personal assets into complex business structures
- Complicated transfers through your trust account hiding true funding source
- Large volumes of company/trust creations at one time
- Use of shell or shelf companies to create distance from funds
Key Compliance Elements
Trust Account Management
Holding, controlling or possessing client property, including money in trust accounts, triggers AML/CTF obligations.
Entity Formation
Creating, restructuring, or forming body corporates or legal arrangements like companies, trusts, and partnerships.
LPP Protection
Legal professional privilege is preserved. Use LPP forms when withholding privileged information from AUSTRAC.
Nominee Services
Acting as director, secretary, trustee, or nominee shareholder triggers obligations. Understand the real beneficial owners.
Record Keeping
Maintain client identification, transaction records, and compliance documentation for 7 years.
Frequently asked questions
What are the 9 designated services for legal professionals?
AUSTRAC lists: (1) Assisting with real estate transactions, (2) Selling/buying body corporate or legal arrangement, (3) Holding/controlling client property including trust accounts, (4) Equity/debt financing for body corporate, (5) Selling shelf companies, (6) Creating/restructuring body corporate or legal arrangements, (7) Acting as director/secretary/trustee, (8) Acting as nominee shareholder, (9) Providing registered office address.
How is Legal Professional Privilege protected?
The Act explicitly preserves LPP. Nothing takes away your right to refuse privileged information. If you withhold information on LPP grounds, submit an LPP form to AUSTRAC within the required timeframe instead. The tipping-off prohibition doesn't apply to communications covered by LPP.
What are AUSTRAC's red flags for legal services?
Key indicators include: client avoids face-to-face meetings, obstructive or secretive, doesn't understand their business sector, ends relationship when asked for information, asks for nominee shareholding with no obvious reason, requests to buy aged shelf companies rather than new ones, buys companies in liquidation without economic reason, requests trusts that are unlikely to be appropriate.
What client behaviours indicate higher risk?
AUSTRAC identifies: high-net-worth individuals with offshore accounts or trusts, PEPs due to corruption exposure, non-residents from high-risk jurisdictions, clients whose business structure hides beneficial owners, clients connected to industries with higher ML/TF risks, companies with operations in high-risk jurisdictions.
What complex arrangement red flags should lawyers watch for?
AUSTRAC warns about: requests to transfer personal assets into complex structures, series of complicated transfers through your trust account, requests to create complex structures hiding beneficial ownership, large volumes of company/trust creations at one time (wholesale sales), use of shell or shelf companies to create distance from funds.
Are testamentary trusts covered?
No. AUSTRAC guidance confirms that testamentary trusts (trusts created by a will) are excluded from the designated services. Court-ordered arrangements are also excluded from obligations.
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