SYDNEY, Australia – Over regulation and customer privacy are two areas that concern the Credit Union Industry Association here. They have issued a statement in response to the new anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF) that have been proposed and released December 16th. If approved, then all financial institutions will be required to track their customers' transactions more closely. Each customer will be given a risk profile. Reporting will be to Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) Australia's anti-money laundering regulator and specialist financial intelligence unit. "Credit unions and other financial institutions have been complying with existing AML laws for many years, but these new laws will massively increase surveillance of customers," Luke Lawler, CUIA legal spokesman said. He cautioned against copying the U.S. and said in many cases when enforcement agencies were looking for a needle in a haystack, they tended to build bigger haystacks. He did not want to see Australia copy this model with over reporting. "Most of these reports are of no use to law enforcement agencies," Lawler said. CUIA is not against regulation, but "we need to make sure resources are focused on fighting money laundering rather than elaborate but wasteful regulatory compliance projects," Lawler said. CUIA will participate in the consultative process. He felt that if enacted a major public education campaign would be needed to make customers understand the new role that financial institutions were playing. – [email protected]