Tranche 2 AML:Fast Track to AML Compliance

What obligations are now live post-1 July

AJ: It's past the 1st of July. Every agency is now looking at AML very seriously, and as they should. I'm proud of the integration we've built with Toby and Russell's team, and the feedback from our users has been really positive.

Toby: Most agencies now understand what they have to do — the question is how. First: policy creation and AML training, required before 1 July. You need policy documents and a training log submitted to AUSTRAC annually. Second: customer due diligence — verifying identity of vendors and buyers. For real estate in Australia, that's identity checks and risk assessments; you don't need to prove source of funds in most cases.

AJ: Not having to deal with source of funds is a genuinely significant win — that's a painful process in other jurisdictions.

Toby: Fourth: record keeping. Records are held for seven years, you'll be audited every three years, and you submit an annual report to AUSTRAC.

If you haven't started yet: Don't panic, but do move. Your first priorities are policy documents, staff training, and getting your first vendor verifications running.

Why APLYiD: experience, security, and all-in-one

Toby: There are a lot of new AML providers in the market. Businesses that have been doing this for years — through New Zealand's 2018 rollout, through the UK — understand the pain points, and that experience is built into our workflows. Second: ISO 27001 certification, the gold standard of data security — a baseline requirement given we capture passports, driver's licences, and biometric data.

Third, APLYiD is genuinely all-in-one: we create your AML policies, run staff training, handle identity checks and risk assessments, and store everything for annual reporting. And the pricing — one flat fee per listing, covering unlimited people on that transaction. Pass it on through your vendor paid advertising and the product effectively costs your agency nothing.

Demo: How the Forms Live to APLYiD integration flows

[Forms Live integration video]

AJ: The flow is CRM to Forms Live, Forms Live to APLYiD — three steps, one click. Your vendor or buyer information populates the form, then an APLYiD panel appears, connected once through Forms Live integrations. When you're ready to run the check, the vendor's information pre-populates automatically and you submit with one click.

Toby: Agents do not want to do AML. Anything you can trigger from existing platforms matters, not just for efficiency but for adoption. We see a major difference in compliance rates between integrated and non-integrated clients.

Demo: vendor onboarding walkthrough

[APLYiD platform demonstration — vendor onboarding]

Toby: Everything in APLYiD starts from the New Listing button. Normally the listing details and vendor information come across automatically from Forms Live — you record the property address, transaction type, and value because AUSTRAC requires that context. The platform doesn't need you to know what checks apply to different client types — trust, joint entity, company — it changes the checklist and guides you through the right steps.

Demo: the client identity verification experience

[Client ID verification demonstration]

Russell: The client receives a text message with a link and a free phone number for help. They type only their address — everything else is automated. They present their ID and the system reads it automatically, with 99.9996% accuracy, then completes a facial recognition and liveness check. Start to finish: about one minute.

Toby: Now that agencies have actually been running checks, the feedback is that clients find it simple and quick — a text message, one minute, done, no 20-page form, no branch visit.

Demo: reviewing a PEP flag

Toby: After the client completes their check, the platform may flag something needing review and won't let me proceed — that's by design. PEP stands for politically exposed person; the platform also checks sanctions and adverse media. A flag doesn't mean your client is on a watchlist, just that a similar name needs investigating — the platform searches for similar names, not exact matches, deliberately.

In this case: T. Taylor was in court in 1997 for an insolvency matter, but my ID shows I was born in 1997, so it's clearly not the same person. I leave a note documenting my reasoning and overturn the flag to a pass — that note is permanently recorded as the audit trail.

If a report comes back in another language: Run it through an AI translation tool, do a loose check, and if it's clearly not your client, document your reasoning and move on. Your job is to do a reasonable check, not to be a detective.

Demo: risk assessment and approval

Toby: The last step is the risk assessment — questions from AUSTRAC, built as a simple yes/no questionnaire with scores behind the scenes, so the platform calculates the risk level rather than you deciding it. For this scenario: not anonymous, not overseas, not a PEP, met in person — result: low risk. That's the outcome for the vast majority of residential transactions.

There's a lot of noise about complex, high-risk edge cases, but those happen far more often in legal and accounting sectors. If a client does come back high risk, the platform requires enhanced due diligence and automatically assigns the case to your compliance officer — a junior agent can't approve it.

AJ: Not having to request source of funds in most cases is genuinely significant compared to other countries.

On buyer verification: Once the vendor is approved and a buyer offer is accepted, you return to the same listing to run the buyer workflow. The flat per-listing fee covers it regardless of complexity.

Reporting, audit trails, and annual compliance

Toby: For your annual AUSTRAC report, there's a built-in reporting function — set the date range and download everything: ID checks, risk assessments, a history of what was done and by whom. Auditors get read-only platform access, and every decision is traced to a specific user with a timestamp that can't be retrospectively changed. Records are stored for seven years.

Pricing: pay-as-you-go vs. monthly plans

Toby: Two options: pay-as-you-go at $125 per listing (identity checks only), or the $250/month plan for up to five listings at $50 each, including policy builder, AML training, enhanced support, and full reporting. Once you're listing two properties a month, the monthly plan is the obvious choice. Higher tiers exist beyond five listings, all on 30-day rolling terms with no lock-in.

Q&A: questions from the live session

Russell: On a PEP report in Chinese: run it through an AI tool, do a loose check, and if it's clearly not your client, note your reasoning and move on. Your job is not to be a secret agent — flag anything suspicious through a Suspicious Matter Report to AUSTRAC and let them investigate. Never raise the issue with the client directly — that's tipping off, and it's illegal.

Toby: On verifying a buyer when the property was listed before 1 July: if the vendor was listed before 1 July, you're likely not required to go back and verify them retrospectively, but I'd recommend doing it anyway while there's no pressure on the transaction.

Russell: The more reps your team gets before a critical moment, the better — the verification takes one minute, so there's no downside to doing it proactively.