News

AUSTRAC Warns Banks Against Closing Accounts of Crypto Traders

Richard Marley
November 11, 2021
3 minutes read
2519

AUSTRAC shows full support for the Australian crypto industry and is issuing warnings to banks against closing accounts of virtual assets providers.

Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), the country’s AML regulatory body, has recently stood in favor of the country’s crypto industry by issuing a stern warning to local banks against large-scale de-banking of crypto dealers.

Crypto dealers in Australia have been raising concerns about de-banking from the banking systems because of having involvement in crypto businesses. De-banking, where the financial institutions stop providing services to customers, has become common practice targeting virtual assets providers in Australia.

AUSTRAC has made it clear that the Australian AML and CTF regulations do not mandate banks to evict customers from the country’s banking system just because they are associated with businesses dealing in cryptocurrencies.

“The effect of de-banking of legitimate and lawful financial services businesses can increase the risks of money laundering and terrorism financing and negatively impacts Australia’s economy,” AUSTRAC said in its statement.

AUSTRAC’s Chief Executive, Paul Jevtovic, highlighted that the regulatory bodies do not support the de-banking of crypto operators or terminating business relationships. This practice could soar the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing.

“Although the decision to close an account may remain a necessary risk control, Austrac considers with appropriate systems and processes in place, banks should be able to manage high-risk customers, including those operating remittance services, digital currency exchanges, not-for-profit organizations (NPO), and financial technology (FinTech) businesses,” the regulator said.

Australian banks have become conscious as aftermaths of money laundering or terrorist financing cases pours reputational damages that are unbearable. The Westpac Banking Group became part of headlines back in 2013 when $6 billion funds were laundered through their accounts. While the bank was not found guilty in this case, it portrayed that banks facilitating virtual assets providers can lead to reputational fallout.

Westpac case was instrumental in making Australian banks oppose crypto services. Currently, when banks identify clients as high risk, they de-bank them, considering the cost of incorporating Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) to be high.

A spokesman for The Australian Bankers Association said, “A core obligation is for banks to be able to trace and report where the money comes from and where it flows to. Given the level of anonymity in some digital assets and trading platforms, this means it is often not possible for banks to provide a service in compliance with their AML and sanctions obligations.”

The large-scale de-banking has put the Australian cryptocurrency exchanges in danger, 17 bitcoin exchanges closed. Bitcoin businesses are moving out of Australian territory because of concerns regarding virtual assets regulations and tax treatments. The Australian Digital Currency Commerce Association (ADCCA) has also made it clear that the Australian crypto industry may completely disappear if de-banking practices continue.

“AUSTRAC expects banks and all regulated businesses to adopt a case-by-case approach to managing ML/TF (money laundering/terrorism financing) risks. This expectation extends to the importance of continuing to assess the particular risks relating to their business customers in line with the risk-based approach,” AUSTRAC representative said.

Disclaimer: No warranty is herein provided that the information contained in this document is accurate, up-to-date, and/or complete. In no circumstance(s), does such information constitute legal or any other advice. Any person who intends to use, rely, pass-on, or re-publish the information contained herein in any way is solely responsible for the same. We suggest to verify the information and/or obtain expert advice independently if required.

Recent Posts

Blog
Top 5 Cybersecurity Trends to Look Out for in 2022
With 2022 just around the corner, new developments in cybersecurity are already beginning to take shape. Considering the 600% upshot in cybercrime amid the pandemic, the urgency for cybersecurity is further augmented. Given the dependency of modern businesses on digital solutions, it is safe to say that the corporate world may undergo monumental upgrades. New regulations for cybersecurity updates are inevitable to combat the increasing number of cyberattacks.

According to reports, cyberattacks contributed to losses of up to $6 trillion in 2021 alone, which is the single largest economic upset in history. By 2025, cybercrimes are expected to cost the world $10.5 trillion. As governments work towards elevating their cybersecurity posture, the key criteria here is the extent to which businesses can adopt the best practices.

1. Phishing Attacks to Remain a Major Issue

Although Canada is far ahead as compared to the rest of the world in mitigating cyber threats, 78% of Canadian organizations still faced a cyberattack in 2020. This indicates the catastrophic effect of cyberattacks with numbers rising in the negative direction. The most common type of cyberattacks took the form of ransomware and phishing. Looking at the trends of 2021, it’s clear that hackers and malware are becoming advanced with improvements in technology.

A rise in phishing attacks was observed this year, as fake COVID-19 vaccination drives led to e-commerce fraud where credit card information was collected by bogus online shops. The number of overall data breaches recorded by September 2021 was 1,291, which had already exceeded the total of 2020. In order to avoid becoming the victims of phishing sites and emails, businesses must elevate their identity verification measures and conduct employee training. For this reason, the demand for cybersecurity professionals will further increase in 2022, as companies will need their guidance to stay ahead of their competition.

2. Internal Threats & Cloud Attacks

Trojan horses are rightfully named as they can effectively wipe out a large amount of data. However, the origins of all cyberattacks are not malware, as statistics show that 15 to 25 percent of data breaches were due to the involvement of corrupt employees or business partners. In the coming times, virtual workplaces will further gain prominence and companies will need to be more careful at the same time. Therefore, it is becoming essential for businesses to control access levels for new employees, freelancers, and third-party suppliers.

As the pandemic forced businesses to improvise and follow remote working procedures, a lot of data sharing, communication, and other activities are being conducted through cloud services. Although this enables businesses to stay connected and generate revenue regardless of the location of employees, it has a few drawbacks in terms of cybersecurity. In 2022, cloud services are expected to be used by an increasing number of companies as they strive to adopt virtual or hybrid solutions even after the pandemic’s restrictions.

On one hand, cloud services allow scalability and flexibility in business processes. On the other hand, they create risks of cyber attacks and data breaches. 2020 saw more data breaches through cloud systems as compared to on-premises storage. This means that banks and financial institutions will have to take necessary countermeasures to secure their cloud systems and confidential information. In order to avoid data breaches, businesses must not leave out any gaps in their security systems and raise awareness among their staff to follow the best practices for data privacy.

3. Artificial Intelligence as a Saviour

Considering the cybersecurity trends for 2022, artificial intelligence has become increasingly necessary to establish a strong frontier against cyberattacks. In 2020, 47.3% of companies had a medium to high-security automation level, which was a significant increase as compared to 39% in 2019. The basic concept behind AI comes into play here, as experts suggest that the higher the level of automation, the more secure a business system will be.

An officer in charge of security can make errors like falling prey to a phishing email, but today’s advanced AI systems can easily detect such attacks. Automation of security systems also reduces the risk of internal threats as a lesser number of humans will be able to leak confidential information. Moreover, AI allows much more accuracy in analyzing risk as compared to humans.

4. Securing the Supply Chains

A number of cybersecurity concerns are raised due to loopholes and insufficient security protocols in supply chains. These ultimately give way to numerous false allegations on vendors and third parties. However, the industry has responded to this with a positive approach to improve vendor management as a cybersecurity measure. This is being considered as one of the key focus areas for 2022, starting from the disclosure of business information. Despite cloud service providers claiming that a centralized storage system is far more secure, the coming year will prove that this is not true.

As seen from reports of cyberattacks involving cloud storage, the current business operations actually turn out to be the opposite of secure. Businesses will need to incorporate KYB (Know Your Business) measures to verify their partners, third-party vendors, and suppliers. Unless companies put it all on the table at the start of the collaboration, they are welcoming cyber attackers to breach their data. For example, such exposure was created by Amazon in a reported event where AWS appliance installations were hacked. Therefore, it’s clear that 2022 will see more cyber threats unless work is done to improve security.

5. Identity-based Security Protocols

As the techniques of fraudsters continue to evolve, personal information on digital platforms is becoming increasingly vulnerable to cybercrime. To overcome the theft of financial information, digital banking platforms will need to incorporate identity verification measures. With the new methods of hybrid work and the transfer of major business data to cloud applications, the importance of identity verification is further justified. Although the concept in itself is nothing new, the urgency for cybersecurity will force its adoption in companies.

As most cyberattacks begin with a stolen identity, managing the access protocols will be a key aspect in maintaining a business reputation. Misuse of credentials and data breaches will mean the end of small businesses if the modern cyber attackers capitalize on the loopholes in their system. Business directories and employee registries must be configured with security barriers like 2-factor authentication and transaction monitoring systems should be incorporated to detect suspicious activities.

Key Takeaways

Sooner or later, banks, financial institutions, and businesses will need robust identity verification solutions to eliminate the root cause of cyberattacks. Onboarding of legitimate individuals can only be ensured when the company knows who they are every time they try to access the system. Based on the trends, data breaches and ransomware are not going to be eliminated any time soon.

Want to learn more about on-premises solutions for your business?

Talk to experts

AUSTRAC Warns Banks Against Closing Accounts of Crypto Traders

1. Phishing Attacks to Remain a Major Issue

2. Internal Threats & Cloud Attacks

3. Artificial Intelligence as a Saviour

4. Securing the Supply Chains

5. Identity-based Security Protocols

Key Takeaways

Let’s prove your

customer’s identity

with Shuftipro.

Let’s prove your customer’s

identity with Shuftipro.