Tranche 2 · Legal
AML/CTF compliance for legal professionals
From 1 July 2026, law firms and trust & company service providers that provide designated services are reporting entities. Custarra helps you stand up a compliant program and run it across every matter.
Legal practices provide many designated services under Tranche 2 — handling client money through trust accounts, conveyancing and property transfers, forming and managing companies and trusts, and acting on the buying and selling of businesses. Custarra builds your program on AUSTRAC's published legal-sector Program Starter Kit, so your controls are congruent with the regulator's expectations, and folds client due diligence and reporting into your matter workflow.
What legal practices must do
- 1
Enrol with AUSTRAC
From 1 July 2026Register your practice as a reporting entity and keep your enrolment details current.
- 2
Adopt an AML/CTF program
From 1 July 2026Document the policies, procedures and controls that identify and manage money-laundering risk across your designated services.
- 3
Identify your client
Verify clients — and the beneficial owners behind companies and trusts — before providing a designated service, including for trust-account work.
- 4
Report and keep records
Submit suspicious matter, threshold transaction and cross-border movement reports, and retain records for seven years.
How Custarra helps legal practices
Built on the AUSTRAC starter kit
Your program follows AUSTRAC's published legal-sector starter kit, so you begin congruent with the regulator's expectations rather than from a blank page.
CDD across every matter
Risk-rate each client at engagement, verify identity, and screen for sanctions, PEPs and adverse media — with beneficial-ownership tracing for companies, trusts and complex structures.
Built for trust-account work
Designed around the engagements most exposed to risk — client money, conveyancing, and company and trust formation.
Firm-wide oversight
Run one program across partners and staff, with clear roles for your nominated compliance officer and guided reporting.
- Be ready for the 1 July 2026 start date
- Start from AUSTRAC's own framework, not a blank page
- Fit compliance to your matter workflow, not the other way around
- Stay audit-ready with automatic record-keeping — exportable for an independent review
Law firms and trust & company service providers sit close to the transactions Tranche 2 is most concerned with — client money held in trust, property transfers, and the formation and administration of companies and trusts. Custarra builds your AML/CTF program from AUSTRAC’s published starter kit and fits customer due diligence and reporting into the way your matters already run.
General information only — not legal advice.