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AUSTRAC has decided to grow its Fintel Alliance due to strong results fighting financial crime. The partnership, first set up in 2017, brings together experts from major banks, payment providers and gambling companies with law enforcement.
AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas praised the alliance’s effectiveness. He’s now planning to make their collaborative data hub a core part of operations.
Thomas said: “Together, we are able to do much more than any of us could do alone.”
The expansion includes adding staff and bringing in a senior manager from ANZ Bank to help build new partnerships.
The partnership lets members pool data and share insights in real time. This approach has reportedly helped tackle money laundering, fraud, child exploitation and other serious crimes.
Last year, the alliance analysed more than 50 million cash deposit transactions under $10,000 from four major banks. Banks and analysts worked side by side, using the combined data to spot patterns.
Thomas explained: “In just a few days, we identified major criminal networks now subject to law enforcement action.”
The alliance recently identified an increase in “micro-laundering” – where criminals mix illegal funds with legitimate money through many small digital transfers.
They’ve also launched a campaign against “scambling” – fake gambling platforms that trick people on social media. These scams have been found to often target remote Aboriginal communities.
NAB’s Chief Financial Crime Risk Officer, Paul Jevtovic, commented: “The nature of scamming – frequent small transactions – means it isn’t traditionally captured by mandatory reporting. However, combining data from multiple sources about cash transactions less than $10,000 allowed Fintel Alliance to more rapidly understand the nature and extent of criminality, resulting in timely dissemination amongst members.”
ANZ’s Cassandra Hewett, co-chair of the Fintel Alliance Executive Board, added: “Criminals are adept at finding the weak points. By working together to develop new tools and approaches, we can strengthen the ecosystem.”
AUSTRAC Deputy CEO John Moss added that the expansion will help “weed out criminal abuse of the financial system.” The timing aligns with AUSTRAC preparing to welcome “tranche 2” industries to its regulated population.
The approach combines traditional intelligence work with faster, data-driven methods. Sometimes, spotting patterns that weren’t visible before.
In April 2025, AUSTRAC launched its ‘Use it or Lose it’ campaign, aimed at targeting dormant cryptocurrency exchanges and bringing awareness of the vulnerabilities they pose to users.
The regulator is also planning on introducing a searchable register for cryptocurrency operators to aid in tackling the issue by allowing users to verify whether providers are legitimately regulated and registered.
