AML Assured x Forms LiveIntegration Demonstration

The property market is considered one of the most effective money laundering tools globally. There are a few reasons for this. First, it allows large volumes of money to move through a single transaction. Second, it stores wealth — someone can overpay for a property, hold it for years, and when they eventually sell, the proceeds come out clean.

The mechanisms used are typically companies, trusts, and complex layered structures — offshore holding accounts, beneficial owners who are difficult to identify, and structures designed to obscure who actually controls the entity. And the volume makes it easy to hide: there are around 700,000 property transactions in Australia every year. Nobody blinks at a property sale. That's exactly why this sector has been included in Tranche 2.

There are six things your agency needs to have sorted. First, your AML/CTF compliance documents — a written risk assessment and an AML program with policies and procedures specific to your agency. Second, a compliance officer appointed — the person who handles day-to-day AML operations for your business. Third, all agents and staff trained, with documented proof. AUSTRAC wants to see this evidenced, not just asserted.

Fourth, a verification solution live. From 1 July, you must be able to verify both vendors and buyers — including trusts and businesses. Fifth, reporting — you are obligated to report any suspicious behaviour to AUSTRAC via a Suspicious Matter Report. AUSTRAC doesn't necessarily want you to stop a transaction; they just want to see those reports filed when something feels off. And sixth, the annual AUSTRAC compliance report, submitted between July and September each year, covering the previous 12 months of activity.

A lot of you will be familiar with the Forms Live platform. The AML integration works exactly like connecting your CRM or any other tool — you connect AML Assured once through the integrations panel, and it's there whenever you need it from that point forward.

What we're demonstrating here is an exclusive sales authority. When you're ready to verify the vendor or seller, you pull their contact information directly from the form on the left — it flows across to AML Assured automatically. You submit the request, and AML Assured runs the check and returns a result. Low risk — you're clear to proceed. If there are red flags, you can jump into the AML Assured platform directly to review that case in more detail.

The goal with how we've built this integration is to act as an AML engine sitting behind the tools your team already uses every day. Your existing workflow stays intact. The compliance piece runs underneath it. That's what we've built with Forms Live, and we're proud of how clean it is.

In a typical agency workflow, your agents would use a CRM to pull client information into Forms Live. That data then flows from Forms Live into AML Assured. So in practice, the agent hasn't re-entered anything — it all moves through automatically from the source.

When you first log into AML Assured, you're walked through an interactive setup guide. You can step through it immediately or return to it later — it's always accessible in the top right corner. The help centre also has videos covering every step, from team setup through to training and risk assessment.

The first step is managing your team. You invite users by email, assign their role — organisation owner, compliance officer, or agent — and they receive an invitation to create their account. One recommendation: use the same email address in AML Assured that you use in Forms Live. It makes the integration significantly more seamless.

If you're a sole operator, there's no one to invite. You simply tick the sole operator box, which also designates you as the compliance officer. The system adjusts accordingly — you won't be expected to onboard a team you don't have.

All training modules in AML Assured are built specifically for real estate. You won't find lawyers or accountants working through AML theory with heavy jargon — every module covers your day-to-day operations and how each compliance topic fits into how you already work. The goal is that when July comes, you can hit the ground running because the training actually made sense in context.

Organisation owners complete seven modules. Compliance officers complete six. Agents complete three — because your agents are not full-time detectives. They've been employed to build relationships, list and sell property. They need a working understanding of how the new obligations affect their day-to-day work, and three modules covers that. Sole operators complete the same seven as an organisation owner.

All modules are timestamped and can be completed in stages — you don't need to do them in one sitting. If you have to stop halfway through, you pick up where you left off. Completion is logged automatically for AUSTRAC reporting, and you receive a downloadable certificate when each module is done.

The risk assessment is a checklist built directly from AUSTRAC's starter kit for real estate. We've stripped out everything that doesn't apply to your sector and turned it into a simple, structured flow. For most agencies, it takes 15 to 20 minutes. Plain English guidance is available for every field — if a question looks like jargon, click the shield icon for a breakdown of exactly what it's asking and why.

The AML program builds on your risk assessment — it's your agency's policies and procedures for how you'll handle AML scenarios. A lot of the information is pre-populated from your risk assessment answers. It's another 15-minute process. The program is locked until the risk assessment is complete, because the two are closely linked.

Both documents are a one-time exercise. You review them annually, and AML Assured will prompt you when that's due. The only other trigger is a material change in your business or a new regulatory amendment — and we'll notify you directly inside the platform if that happens.

Unlike banking AML tools that organise around cases or individuals, AML Assured is structured around property deals — because that's how real estate agents think. You remember a property. You may not remember the specific individual from eight months ago.

You create a deal for a property, add the relevant parties — vendors, buyers — and the platform guides you through the verification steps for each. If your CRM is integrated, much of this populates automatically. If not, you enter the details manually. Either way, the verification link is sent from inside AML Assured — the client receives it, completes the check in two to three minutes, and the result comes back to the deal record.

If you need to add a client before a property is found — for example, a buyer's agent who has a client but no property yet — you can create the client record first and attach a property to it later. The platform is flexible about the order.

Client pay verification is the feature that gets the most attention, and for good reason. The ongoing cost of running verification checks is one of the biggest concerns agencies have about AML compliance. Client pay removes that concern entirely.

When you send a KYC verification link, there's a toggle. Turn it on, and instead of the agency paying for the check, the client pays $35 directly before completing the verification. The flow for the client is identical — they take a photo of their ID, complete a biometric selfie, answer a few questions, and they're done. The cost just doesn't sit with you.

This isn't a workaround — AUSTRAC expects that these costs can and will be passed on. You can also still choose to absorb the cost yourself and pass it through the vendor marketing bill if that suits your workflow. It's a toggle. You can set a default across the agency or switch it per transaction. Either approach is fully supported.

Compliance Lite is the most popular plan — it's designed for the majority of the market, which is boutique and small agencies. It covers everything required to be compliant. We haven't hidden any compliance features behind a higher tier — you don't need to upgrade to be compliant, only to support more users or access higher volumes of included checks.

Additional team members can be added to any plan for $9 per month each, so you're not forced to upgrade a whole tier just to add one extra person. As you move up the plans, the number of included KYC and KYB checks increases. Essentials includes five free KYCs and two free KYBs. Further tiers are available on the AML Assured website.

There are no locked-in contracts and no setup fees. You can start on one tier and move up or down month to month. And again — all pre-July setup steps are completely free. You're not paying for anything until your verification checks begin.