Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering Financing of Terrorism (CFT) Compliance

 

Our Commitment to Compliance and Integrity

As a regulated law firm in New Zealand, we are required to comply with the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (AML/CFT Act). This legislation helps to detect and prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism, ensuring that New Zealand remains a safe and reputable place to do business.

We take our obligations under this legislation seriously and are committed to maintaining the highest standards of legal and ethical integrity in all our client dealings.

The AML/CFT Act requires us to conduct customer due diligence on new and existing clients. This involves verifying your identity and, in some cases, the source of your funds and wealth.
You may be asked to provide:

  • A current passport, driver’s licence, or other government-issued photo ID
  • Proof of address (such as a utility bill, bank statement, or government correspondence)
  • Information about the purpose and nature of the proposed legal work
  • Documents such as a trust deed, records of trustee appointments and retirements, a partnership or shareholder agreement.
  • Documents that verify the source of funds and your source of wealth

We understand that these requests may seem intrusive, but they are a legal requirement. Your information is treated with strict confidentiality and used solely for compliance purposes.

Our team will work with you to make this process as straightforward as possible in accordance with the legislation. To avoid delays, we ask that you complete the due diligence process as promptly as possible when requested.

Client due diligence is required for all clients (including individuals, companies, trusts, partnerships and incorporated societies) unless we will only be providing limited services that are not regulated under the AML/CFT Act. We will let you know if client due diligence is not required.

If you are engaging with us for legal services, we are obligated to collect all due diligence information from you before providing regulated services.

The due diligence information we need may include information concerning people associated with you (such as directors and shareholders, trustees and beneficiaries). If we are not able to obtain the required information from you, we will not be able to provide regulated services to you (or, if relevant, will cease providing those services to you).

We also have ongoing client due diligence obligations. To meet these obligations, we may need to request further information from you in the future. If we are not able to obtain the required information, it is likely we will not be able to take further instructions from you relating to regulated services (or, if relevant, will cease providing those services to you).

There are three ways you can meet the identity verification requirements:

 

Electronic ID Verification

We will send you a secure online link to your smartphone or email for you to confirm your identity.

 

In-Person Verification

Visit our office with:

  • A valid passport, NZ driver’s licence, or firearms licence
  • A recent proof of address (dated within the last 12 months)

 

Certified Copies

You may provide certified copies of your documents. These must be certified by a trusted referee such as a lawyer, JP, chartered accountant, or notary public.

The certification must be dated within the last 3 months and verify ‘true likeness’ and ‘true copy’ of the original documents.

 

Specific requirements can be viewed on the below relevant guidelines

NZ Clients

Australian Clients

Overseas Clients

Estates

All information you provide is stored securely in compliance with New Zealand privacy laws and will not be shared with third parties unless required by law. We maintain robust internal procedures to ensure your information remains protected.