Latest news with #BrendanThomas
ABC News
2 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
Pokies giant Mounties taken to civil court over anti-money laundering laws
The company that owns the most profitable pokie machine club in New South Wales is being taken to the Federal Court by the agency that investigates financial crime. The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) alleges the Mount Pritchard District and Community Club group seriously and systemically violated the country's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financial laws. Mounties, as it is commonly known, owns 10 venues — including eight that operate approximately 1,400 pokie machines, mostly across Greater Sydney and the Central Coast. Amongst them is the club with the most lucrative pokies machines in NSW, also known as Mounties, in Sydney's south-west, according to quarterly data the club supplied to the state's regulator. AUSTRAC alleges in a civil suit that Mounties failed to comply with rules designed to stop criminals from exploiting its gaming machines. It is also alleged in the civil suit that the group failed to monitor customers presenting money laundering risks in "a number of specific instances". "This is a big company with an even bigger responsibility to ensure its clubs are managing the risks that criminals can run dirty money through its gaming machines," AUSTRAC chief executive Brendan Thomas said. "Customer due diligence and transaction monitoring in a club that processes hundreds of millions of dollars a year through its poker machines, a significant amount of which is cash, is going to require a robust approach when it comes to verifying a customer's source of funds." Mounties outsources parts of its compliance program to a third party, Betsafe, which is also used by other clubs. But Mr Thomas said: "It can't outsource its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financial obligations." He invoked findings from the NSW Crime Commission's Project Islington, an inquiry that found billions of dollars were laundered through the state's pokies machines at clubs and hotels in the financial year ending in 2021. The NSW government introduced a cashless gaming trial in response, though it had few active participants, and it wasn't rolled out more widely. Mounties have been contacted for comment. The matter is set to be heard by the Federal Court.
News.com.au
7 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Closing Bell: Energy surge fails to power fizzling ASX
Losses outweigh gains despite energy sector lift ASX has bled 1.03pc over last week Resource 200 index falls 1.1pc and All Ord Gold 2pc Energy rally runs out of fuel Gains in the energy sector (+1.8%) just weren't enough to offset a bruised materials sector (-1.73%) today. The ASX 200 ended down 0.49% in one of our worst weeks of trading since Liberation Day knocked us all for six back in April. After setting two new record highs last week, the Aussie bourse has shed a full 1.03% over the past five trading days. It's now 1.25% below its 52-week average high. Weakness in gold stocks was the core driver of losses in resource stocks, but there was no support to be found in our top banks either – the banks index is down 0.5% today, while the All Ords Gold shed a full 2%. Woodside (ASX:WDS) was the top gainer for energy, adding 3.72% on improving oil prices. Santos (ASX:STO) also lifted 1% with Ampol (ASX:ALD) close behind, ticking up 0.92%. Only NexGen Energy (ASX:NXG) stood out amongst the midcaps, climbing 4.4% with an honourable mention from Deep Yellow (ASX:DYL). The uranium stock added 0.84%. AUSTRAC satisfied with NAB's financial crimes compliance The financial crimes watchdog has given NAB a pat on the back, finalising an Enforceable Undertaking with National Australia Bank (ASX:NAB) after it satisfied its obligations under the agreement. The EU was originally enforced over compliance with money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws. AUSTRAC was unhappy with NAB's customer identification procedures and related compliance efforts. AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas said NAB had demonstrated a commitment to ongoing compliance and to tackling the risks and harms posed by serious and organised crime. 'The closure of this EU reflects the progress NAB has made but it still doesn't give the business a clean bill of health,' he said. 'The EU set NAB on the right path, but compliance is not a one off task – it requires ongoing, incremental change. AUSTRAC expects NAB to continue to improve its systems and processes.' NAB CEO Andrew Irvine celebrated the finalisation of the EU. 'Through a transparent and constructive process with AUSTRAC and the external auditor, NAB has transformed our approach to managing financial crime,' he said. 'We remain focused on the challenges that financial crime presents to our customers and society. 'Banks play a critical role in monitoring and reporting suspicious, and potentially criminal, activity and we will continue to make investments that help to keep our customers, communities and bank safe.' Banks were already moving lower today and the good news wasn't enough to boost NAB's share price, which fell 0.45% to $37.49 a share by the end of trade. ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS Today's best performing small cap stocks: Code Name Last % Change Volume Market Cap MTB Mount Burgess Mining 0.007 75% 13584531 $1,702,553 ALB Albion Resources 0.115 67% 35302756 $9,103,400 MQR Marquee Resource Ltd 0.014 56% 12867369 $5,024,723 ENT Enterprise Metals 0.003 50% 906226 $2,742,635 KFM Kingfisher Mining 0.069 47% 2557630 $2,524,605 MSG Mcs Services Limited 0.007 40% 398920 $990,498 ANR Anatara Ls Ltd 0.008 33% 7475076 $1,280,302 AOA Ausmon Resorces 0.002 33% 8000000 $1,966,820 NES Nelson Resources. 0.004 33% 511999 $6,515,783 DBO Diabloresources 0.02 33% 3638231 $2,521,738 AMO Ambertech Limited 0.19 27% 428364 $14,310,717 ICE Icetana Limited 0.082 26% 1125810 $34,568,684 5EA 5Eadvanced 0.755 26% 210643 $8,822,124 CRR Critical Resources 0.005 25% 1910000 $11,080,342 JAV Javelin Minerals Ltd 0.0025 25% 40095 $12,504,450 PIL Peppermint Inv Ltd 0.0025 25% 45000 $4,602,180 ZMM Zimi Ltd 0.01 25% 1150000 $3,920,351 RMI Resource Mining Corp 0.021 24% 5398278 $12,485,707 AZ9 Asianbatterymet PLC 0.032 23% 1296210 $11,224,142 ATS Australis Oil & Gas 0.011 22% 2732794 $11,862,562 BEL Bentley Capital Ltd 0.011 22% 80000 $685,151 CVR Cavalierresources 0.29 21% 149522 $13,882,132 CHR Charger Metals 0.06 20% 695447 $3,871,013 1AI Algorae Pharma 0.006 20% 333561 $8,436,974 AMS Atomos 0.006 20% 1356848 $6,075,092 In the news… Albion Resources (ASX:ALB) has hit bonanza-grade gold in the first 12 holes drilled at the Yandal West project's Collavilla prospect, unearthing an intersection of 5m at 38.9 g/t gold within a wider hit of 11m at 20 g/t gold, from just 17 metres of depth. The results come from just a small 100m by 100m area of the Ives Find prospective granite intrusive, which offers a 4km by 750m target zone that management reckons is ripe for high-grade gold veins. Read more about the drilling program here. Mount Burgess Mining (ASX:MTB) has hit another milestone in its restructuring efforts, now poised to eliminate $4.7m in debt under a loan settlement agreement that would see creditors forgive 95% of outstanding balances. Subject to shareholder approval, MTB will settle the remaining 5% via the issue of over 86m shares and 4.6m unlisted options. Kingfisher Mining (ASX:KFM) has laid hands to a veritable smorgasbord of new projects with a land package totalling about 700 square kilometres in the Broken Hill, Cobar and Macquarie Arc regions of New South Wales. The fresh acquisitions include the Copper Blow IOCG project, multiple copper and silver-lead-zinc prospects in Broken Hill, the Wellington copper project and the Tinderly gold and base metal project. Audio-visual tech and defence comms gear specialist Ambertech (ASX:AMO) is rising on strong unaudited full year results, with half-year revenue expected to exceed $54m, up more than 18% on the first half of the financial year. AMO's EBITDA also improved 2.4% on the previous half year, which full-year revenue expected to top $100m. Icetana (ASX:ICE) achieved its strongest annual recurring revenue numbers in over four years, pulling in $1.9m as of June after a 10% quarter on quarter uptick. The company's total quarterly revenue has also grown 13% compared to the previous period at $490k. ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS Today's worst performing small cap stocks: Code Name Last % Change Volume Market Cap BMO Bastion Minerals 0.001 -50% 300000 $3,162,696 MIO Macarthur Minerals 0.015 -40% 47030 $4,991,638 AUK Aumake Limited 0.002 -33% 30281576 $9,070,076 BP8 Bph Global Ltd 0.002 -33% 1831399 $3,152,954 EEL Enrg Elements Ltd 0.001 -33% 1 $4,880,668 MTL Mantle Minerals Ltd 0.001 -33% 3333333 $9,671,169 OB1 Orbminco Limited 0.001 -33% 4961460 $5,103,852 GTE Great Western Exp. 0.016 -27% 5968099 $12,490,674 AS2 Askarimetalslimited 0.012 -25% 9447683 $6,466,731 CHM Chimeric Therapeutic 0.003 -25% 6311811 $8,060,777 DMG Dragon Mountain Gold 0.003 -25% 3163441 $1,578,687 IFG Infocusgroup Hldltd 0.016 -24% 3206378 $6,130,723 CTN Catalina Resources 0.004 -20% 22083865 $12,130,095 ROG Red Sky Energy. 0.004 -20% 2251712 $27,111,136 HRN Horizon Gold Ltd 0.485 -19% 106060 $86,903,954 AHK Ark Mines Limited 0.185 -18% 86211 $14,886,157 AAU Antilles Gold Ltd 0.005 -17% 916779 $14,274,408 FAU First Au Ltd 0.005 -17% 2310224 $12,457,748 FBR FBR Ltd 0.005 -17% 7682873 $34,136,713 SLZ Sultan Resources Ltd 0.005 -17% 142142 $1,388,819 TMK TMK Energy Limited 0.0025 -17% 514914 $30,667,149 VFX Visionflex Group Ltd 0.0025 -17% 1178 $10,103,581 AJL AJ Lucas Group 0.006 -14% 140000 $9,630,107 AM5 Antares Metals 0.006 -14% 31109 $3,603,970 M4M Macro Metals Limited 0.006 -14% 436757 $27,841,923 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT St George Mining (ASX:SGQ) is looking to expand its Araxá rare earths and niobium project resources in Brazil. Renascor Resources (ASX:RNU) has produced a graphite concentrate from a 730t bulk ore sample collected from its Siviour deposit. Firetail Resources (ASX:FTL) has expanded its Excelsior project through staking nearby ground showing promising signs of gold. Trading Halts Asara Resources (ASX:AS1) – cap raise Australian Strategic Materials (ASX:ASM) – cap raise Galan Lithium (ASX:GLN) – pending government project approval Norfolk Metals (ASX:NFL) – cap raise Painchek (ASX:PCK) – cap raise At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Albion Resources is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.
West Australian
22-07-2025
- Business
- West Australian
Perth Mint: State Government's Gold Corporation gets Austrac's gold tick following money laundering scandal
Financial crimes watchdog Austrac has given Perth Mint a clean bill of health, while warning the State-owned gold trade business remained a high risk. Perth Mint — the trading name of taxpayer-owned Gold Corporation — was rocked by a series of scandals including allegations of gold doping, failures to comply with money-laundering rules and troubles with artisanal miners in Papua New Guinea. Gold Corporation was given an April 30 deadline to fix up the litany of failures identified through an enforceable undertaking signed with Austrac in late 2023. The regulator the following month received the final progress report from an external auditor, which specified how the company had completed its remediation in compliance with the EU. On Tuesday, AUSTRAC chief executive Brendan Thomas said it was satisfied Gold Corporation had met its obligations and released it from the enforceable undertaking. 'As a result of the EU, Gold Corporation has made an ongoing investment in its (anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing) systems and controls and have made a commitment to undertake continuous review and improvement,' he said. 'Gold Corporation's previous AML/CTF program had serious failings, including failures to accurately identify the risks posed by its customers, ineffective monitoring of customer transactions, and failures to make certain reports to Austrac' Mr Thomas added compliance with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws 'should be a given'. 'I acknowledge Gold Corporation's cooperation and transparency during the EU process, though I would much prefer all businesses met their compliance obligations and we didn't need to take this kind of intensive action,' he said. 'Trading in gold still carries significant money laundering risks and we expect Gold Corporation to stay on top of its risk environment and take steps to update its program whenever required, including reporting suspicious transactions to AUSTRAC.' Perth Mint has been contacted for comment. More to come.
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Australian regulator orders external audit of Western Union's local unit
(Reuters) -Australia's financial crime watchdog ordered an external audit of Western Union Financial Services' local unit, after raising concerns over the money remitter's compliance with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) rules. The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) said on Thursday core anti-money laundering issues such as poor customer due diligence, delayed or non-reporting of suspicious matters and non-compliant international funds transfer instruction reporting were among its concerns. While Western Union has self-disclosed issues with its systems and resorted to remedial action, AUSTRAC, however, is still not satisfied that the company 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," said AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas. Thomas adds that the risk for money laundering is high among businesses providing international fund transfers, with the remittance sector being particularly vulnerable to criminal exploitation. The external auditor's report to the regulator will provide information which will aid Western Union to meet its compliance obligations in a better manner, the watchdog said, adding that the report will also state if further regulatory action was required. "AUSTRAC will then assess if further regulatory action is appropriate," Thomas said. Western Union Financial Services Australia did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Australian authorities say top crypto ATM users are scam victims and money mules — most transactions from victims or mules forced to deposit money into the machines
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Australian financial watchdog AUSTRAC, or Australian Transactions Reports and Analysis Centre, said that 'scam victims, money mules, and suspected offenders' are the top users of crypto ATMs in the country. According to the agency's press release, its Cryptocurrency Taskforce monitored the biggest crypto ATM transactions in each state and believed that many of these are linked to scams. Unfortunately, most of these transactions were related to victims or mules who were forced to deposit the money into the machines. 'We suspected that a large volume of crypto ATM transactions were probably illicit, but disturbingly, our law enforcement partners found that almost all the transactions we referred involved victims rather than criminals,' said AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas. 'We came across a woman in her 70s who had deposited more than AU$430,000 (approximately US$280,000) into crypto ATMs after falling victim to romance and investment scams. Tragically, she has no way of recovering that life-changing amount of money.' Unfortunately, the authorities also identified another victim around the same age who lost more than AU$200,000 (almost US$130,000). She thought she was depositing the amount to a legitimate trading firm as part of an investment, but instead lost it all through the crypto ATM. Fraud and scams like these have been going on for several decades now, so traditional financial institutions now have several safeguards in place to help protect customers against them. However, since cryptocurrency is relatively new, it still hasn't developed safeguards against its illicit use. Aside from that, the inherent decentralized nature of this technology means that it's hard for nations to enforce rules on its use. Crypto ATMs are making it easier for users to convert their cash into cryptocurrency. But because it's easy to use and looks similar to the usual ATMs that many people are used to, it's also making it easier to scam those who aren't tech savvy, thinking that they're simply depositing money into a bank account. Although it's not impossible, it's insanely difficult to recover the scammed money. Even though transactions can be easily tracked, the anonymity of wallets makes it difficult to determine who owns them. Aside from that, the victims have to go through legal means to have the stolen cash returned. And even though a court might order the funds returned, the money must be parked on an exchange that recognizes the law of the state that issues the order. The increasing number of incidents like this, combined with the easy availability of crypto ATMs, suggests that the government must respond sooner or later. The Australian government said that it's 'coordinating a national prevention and education campaign', especially as many people are still likely not knowledgeable about online scams and cryptocurrencies. In the meantime, we'll have to be vigilant against scams like this and warn the people around us to be wary when someone asks them to deposit any amount of money in a crypto ATM — especially if they don't use cryptocurrencies in the first place. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
