Anti-money laundering policy.

Why we need to ask for your information

New Zealand has passed a law called the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (“the AML/CFT law” for short). The purpose of the law reflects New Zealand’s commitment to the international initiative to counter the impact that criminal activity has on people and economies within the global community.

Recent changes to the AML/CFT law mean that from 1 July 2018 lawyers must comply with its requirements. Lawyers must do a number of things to help combat money laundering and terrorist financing, and to help Police bring the criminals who do it to justice. The AML/CFT law does this because the services law firms and other professionals offer may be attractive to those involved in criminal activity.

The law says that law firms and other professionals must assess the risk they may face from the actions of money launderers and people who finance terrorism and must identify potentially suspicious activity.

To make that assessment, lawyers must obtain and verify information from prospective and existing clients about a range of things. This is part of what the AML/CFT law calls “customer due diligence”.

What this means for you – Customer due diligence requirements 

Customer due diligence requires a law firm to undertake certain background checks before providing ser­vices to clients or customers. Lawyers must take reasonable steps to make sure the information they receive from clients is correct, and so they need to ask for documents that show this.

We will need to obtain and verify certain information from you to meet these legal requirements. This infor­mation includes:

your full name; and
your date of birth; and
your address.

To confirm these details, individuals must provide us with a form of ID from the options listed below. One form of ID must contain a photograph, your full name and date of birth. A proof of residential address document must also be provided to us (and the document must be issued in the preceding 6 months of presentation to us).

Option 1 – One of the following:

• NZ passport

• NZ firearms licence

• Foreign passport

or

Option 2 – Two forms of ID:

Current NZ drivers licence

and

• Credit card/debit card/EFTPOS card from a registered NZ Bank

• A bank statement from a NZ registered bank

• NZ government department (eg IRD/WINZ)

or

Option 3 – Two forms of ID:

One of these:

• NZ driver licence

• Hospitality NZ 18+ card

• Current international driving permit

and one of the following:

• NZ full birth certificate

• NZ citizenship certificate

• Overseas birth certificate

• Overseas citizenship certificate

If you are seeing us about company or trust business, we will need information about the company or trust including the people associated with it (such as directors and shareholders, trustees and beneficiaries).

We may also need to ask you for further information. We will need to ask you about the nature and pur­pose of the proposed work you are asking us to do for you. Information confirming the source of funds for a transaction may also be necessary to meet the legal requirements (see below).

If you cannot provide the required information

If we are not able to obtain the required information from you, it is likely we will not be able to act for you. Because the law applies to everyone, we need to ask for the information even if you have been a client of ours for a long time.

Before we start working for you, we will let you know what information we need, and what documents you need to show us and let us photocopy.

Please contact us if you are over-65 or under-18 and are note able to provide the above.

We can accept other documents in very limited circumstances.

Source of funds / Source of wealth 

In addition to the standard CDD, there may be times when we will ask you for proof of funds or proof of wealth; this is required in order that we comply with the legislation when undertaking certain types of work for you (for example when we are acting for your trust). We will advise you when this would be required. The table below identifies the documents accepted by Duggan & Murphy.

Please note that if asked you will need to provide originals or certified copies.

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