Australia’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) laws are designed to reduce the risk of Australian businesses being misused for the purposes of money laundering or financing of terrorism.
Changes to Australia’s AML/CTF laws were passed by the Parliament of Australia in November 2024, with the laws designed to simplify and modernise the AML/CTF regime. They also make sure Australia’s laws meet international standards set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). FATF is the global financial crime watchdog and standard-setter.
Under AML/CTF laws, BT is required to conduct Customer Due Diligence (CDD) both prior to account opening, referred to as initial CDD, and ongoing CDD. Initial CDD requires BT to establish the identity of our customers, their representatives and any person on whose behalf they are receiving the product and any beneficial owner of our customer. Ongoing CDD involves reviewing, updating and re-verifying customer information as needed.
The investor and general information section and the adviser faqs below provides further information related to our CDD requirements.
If you are an individual or sole trader, use this form:
Select the form that corresponds to your entity type:
If you are appointing a new verifying officer, use this form:
(including BT Investment Funds, BT Classic Investment Funds, BT Investor Choice, and BT Premium Cash Fund)
If you are an individual or sole trader, use this form:
Select the form that corresponds to your entity type:
If you are appointing a new verifying officer, use this form:
Association
An association can be:
Domestic Company
A domestic company can be:
Foreign Company
A foreign company can be:
Government Body
A government body can be a domestic or foreign government body:
Individual and Sole Trader
An individual is a natural person of any nationality. A sole trader is a natural person who trades in their own legal right without the use of a company structure, incorporation or partners and who, alone, has full liability for the activities of the business. Sole traders can operate under their own name or register a trading name.
Partnership
A partnership is the relationship that exists between persons (the partners) carrying on business in common with a view to profit. The rights of the partners between themselves are governed by a partnership agreement.
Trust
A trust is a relationship which exists where the trustee holds property or assets for the benefit of the beneficiary. The trustee can be an individual, group of individuals or a company. There can be more than one trustee and there can be more than one beneficiary.
Generally, all BT customers will be required to complete the Customer Due Diligence (CDD) requirements. This process requires us to:
Our CDD requirements will vary between BT products and investor types, please refer to the questions below for additional information.
Alternatively, please contact us for further information.
Customers opening a superannuation or investment account will need to submit their application, including proof of identity in the form of acceptable identification documents.
For BT Panorama customers:
If we receive an application without the completed BT Customer Identification Procedure Forms and identification verification record or documents, we will not be able to process the application, unless we have previously identified the customer to our current requirements.
We will contact the customer and/or their adviser to obtain the required documents. If we do not receive them within 30 days of the application, we will reject the application and return any money received.
If you’re an existing customer, we may ask you to confirm and verify your details are still correct and complete. We may also contact you to update our records with any additional information we require. If this is the case, you will receive communications from us to complete the identification process. If a customer, including beneficial owners and account signatories (where applicable), fail to complete the process within a reasonable timeframe, we may need to apply restrictions to the account until all parties have met our identification standards. We’ll provide ample time and communicate with you before taking any action to restrict your account.
You can choose to either:
BT Panorama accounts
Post the completed form(s) and original certified documents to:
BT Panorama
GPO Box 2861
Adelaide SA 5001
Retail Investment accounts
Post the completed form(s) and original certified documents to:
BT Funds
GPO Box 804
Melbourne VIC 3001
If you are lodging an application through a financial adviser, you may provide a certified copy of verification documents to your adviser OR have your adviser sight an original copy of your documents.
Your adviser will complete the Customer Due Diligence procedure for you. Please speak with your financial adviser for further information.
Advisers are bound by a set of key obligations to identify and verify that their client is who they say they are; referred to as Know Your Customer (KYC).
For the purposes of the AML/CTF Act, BT places reliance on the identification and verification procedure performed by a Licensee and their authorised representatives.
Financial Advisers opening BT Panorama accounts for new clients have the following choices:
Further instructions are located on the BT Customer Identification Procedure Form (Individual and Sole Trader) in most Product Disclosure Statements (PDSs) and on this website.
All acceptable forms are available in the BT Panorama or Retail Investment Forms section on this webpage. No other Customer Identification Forms apart from those listed on this webpage will be accepted.
New applicants
Each account holder will need to complete the BT Customer Identification Procedure Form for an individual/sole trader and provide the required identification documents.
Existing customers
Each account holder is required to update their details by completing a BT Customer Identification Procedure Form and providing the required identification documents. If any customer fails to complete the process within a reasonable timeframe, we may need to apply restrictions to the account until all customers have met our identification standards. We’ll provide ample time and communicate with you before taking any action to restrict your account.
This depends on whether you are investing as an individual, company, partnership or other entity. Each customer will need to provide us with specific information outlined in the relevant BT Customer Identification Procedure Form. There are different forms for different entity types as follows:
Refer to the relevant form in the BT Panorama or Retail Investment Forms section for more information.
The types of acceptable identification (ID) documents are dependent on how you are setting up the investment. Refer to the 'Document Verification Procedure' section in the relevant BT Customer Identification Form for a list of the acceptable types of ID documents or options available to you.
A certified copy is a document that has been certified as a true copy of an original document. For more information, please refer to the following page bt.com.au/personal/help/how-to-certify-id.html
If you are investing directly with BT and do not have a financial adviser, you should follow the instructions on the relevant BT Customer Identification Procedure Form in the BT Panorama or Retail Investment Forms section on this webpage.
If you are submitting a new application, your identification documentation should be submitted at the same time as your application to avoid delays.
New applicants
Your request will be deemed as invalid, and the transaction will not be processed until valid documentation is received. The usual rules around cut-off times apply, please refer to your Product Disclosure Statement (PDS).
Existing customers
If you don’t provide the required details after a reasonable period of time, we may restrict your account until you complete the verification that your details are correct and complete. We’ll provide ample time and communicate with you before taking any action to restrict your account.
If you need assistance to complete this request, you can contact us.
The investor that the product is being transferred to must be identified. If the investor that the product is being transferred to is an existing investor, then no additional identification is required.
Where a product is transferred to a new investor, a Transfer Form will need to be accompanied by a BT Customer Identification Procedure Form above.
If you need further information, please contact us.
No. Appointing a Verifying Officer is optional. For banking products appointing a Verifying Officer makes it easier to appoint and change signatories to a non-individual account. For wealth products however, appointing a Verifying Officer makes very little difference to the amount of information required to add or change a signatory.
The BT Customer Identification Procedure form for Verifying Officers must be completed. This form can be found in the BT Panorama or Retail Investment Forms section on this webpage.
An Authorised Signatory needs to be identified as an agent of either the individual or non-individual customer.
The Anti-Money Laundering/Counter-Terrorism Financing Act (AML/CTF) is aimed at detecting and preventing money laundering in Australia and the threat to national security caused by the financing of terrorism.
The regulations have been designed to bring the Australian Financial Services Industry into line with international best practice in detecting and deterring money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) is the regulator of the new legislation. You can visit their website at www.austrac.gov.au to get more information.
If you need further information please contact us.
As you provide 'designated services' to your clients, the AML/CTF provisions apply to you.
You will be bound by a set of key obligations to identify and verify that your client is who they say they are; referred to as Know Your Customer (KYC).
These provisions apply equally whether your client is an individual, a company, trust, partnership or some other entity.
This means that, as our agent, you will be required to capture and verify customer identification information.
This is similar to the existing process for identifying and verifying customers when they open their first bank account, which you and your clients will already be familiar with.
Different product and platform providers may differ in their approach and timing for implementation of AML/CTF obligations. Therefore you should check to ensure you are clear about what each provider may require.
We will require you to carry out customer identification on our behalf for the purposes of AML/CTF. BT places reliance on the identification and verification procedure performed by a Licensee.
For BT Panorama only:
Advisers can monitor the status of clients who are required to complete additional identification verification using the Panorama adviser interface or Panorama mobile app. The ‘Client ID and KYC Review’ page provides an online tracker, enabling advisers to view their clients’ identification verification statuses (e.g. pending, completed).
If you meet the following criteria then you can certify copies of identification documents for your client:
The AML/CTF Act regulates the provision of the following designated wealth management services.