What's New
Anti-Money Laundering - it all comes out in the wash!
New laws have recently been introduced to protect businesses from exposure to money laundering and the financing of terrorism activities.
This legislation is aimed at combating these serious crimes and bringing Australia into line with international standards.
Briefly, these laws require financial services and gambling companies to identify their customers before providing them with a service, e.g. opening a bank account, obtaining a loan, sending or receiving funds electronically and withdrawing superannuation benefits; reporting certain transactions; and reporting suspicious matters to the authorities.
As a customer, you may be asked to provide different forms of identification when carrying out these transactions – and the amount of identity required will depend on the type of transaction you wish to undertake.
But what does this all mean for job-seekers?
As a new recruit for a company affected by the legislation (pretty much any company within the financial services sector), you may be required to undergo probity checking. Probity checks can involve anything from simple identity checks or employment checks through to Federal Police Checks and more. Make sure you have the relevant visas and certified copies of academic transcripts (or the originals) handy when you go to job interviews or are asked to complete probity documents. Keep track of your actual employment dates with various companies to make the probity process as quick and as painless as possible!
The good news, though, is that a number of employment opportunities have been created as a result of the legislation. Companies are looking for candidates who have AML experience or who have a keen interest in this field. If compliance and risk management appeal to you, then consider getting in on the ground floor of this very important career path! Give us a call if you’d like to know more!
Barber & Bunton: Caring for our Community
At Barber & Bunton, our team of dedicated professionals is our most important asset. The value we place on our people extends well beyond the office walls and our commitment to the wider community continues to grow in a number of ways.
Our involvement as a corporate sponsor of Berry Street Victoria goes back many years. Our support for disadvantaged children extends to the collection and distribution of Easter Eggs at Easter and Christmas presents at Christmas, but perhaps our biggest commitment is our annual Berry Street Fun Run where we encourage friends and family to sponsor us in our quest to clock up as many kilometres as possible in an hour to fund a specific project nominated by Berry Street – we get fit, have a laugh and raise a significant amount of money for a good cause. We challenge other companies (if they are not already) to get involved with this worthwhile cause that performs a valuable role in the lives of disadvantaged children and their families.
We encourage all our staff to continue their personal and professional development so it makes perfect sense for us to sponsor The Smith Family’s Learning for Life Program, which provides disadvantaged children throughout Australia with financial support for their education. We love getting the letters from the children we sponsor – it is very rewarding to see how our support can have such a profound impact on a child’s future.
The Cancer Council’s Biggest Morning Tea is a very popular event in our office. The annual event has evolved from a simple cup of tea and a biscuit to this year’s full-blown chocolate-coated-strawberries-champagne - Trash ‘n Treasure stall-competitions-and-raffles-galore
extravaganza! Of course, our goal is not just to add weight but to raise valuable funds for a very worthwhile cause. We try to out-do ourselves each year and we seem to be succeeding extremely well!
On the business front, for a number of years Barber & Bunton has been proud sponsors of Finsia’s Young Finance Professionals. The Financial Services Institute of Australasia (Finsia) is an industry body for financial services professionals throughout Australia, New Zealand and across the globe, with a membership of over 20,000 members. The Young Finance Professionals’ mission is to provide young professionals across the sector with opportunities to network with senior practitioners, access information from industry participants, enjoy career management support and a voice to communicate with the financial services industry in a collective way. More information on Finsia and the Young Finance Professionals is available on their website.
