RBNZ Supports Release Of Police’s National Risk Assessment

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand – Te Pūtea Matua welcomes the release of the latest National Risk Assessment (NRA) from Police’s Financial Intelligence Unit. The report assesses threat and sectoral vulnerability, exploring their impact on money laundering and terrorism financing risk and proliferation financing in New Zealand.

“An effective Anti-Money Laundering and Countering-Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) system enhances the economic wellbeing and prosperity for all New Zealanders by safeguarding the integrity of our financial system and keeping it resilient against crime,” RBNZ Manager AML/CFT Supervision Damian Henry says.

This Assessment outlines the significant criminal behaviours generating illicit income that threatens New Zealand’s financial system. It also assesses and identifies the vulnerabilities within our financial system that criminals are taking advantage of when they launder proceeds of crime.

“The release of the NRA is a trigger for reporting entities to review and update their respective risk assessments accordingly. We encourage them all to review the report,” Mr Henry says.

This NRA identifies that fraud-related crime, drug crime and transnational money laundering are the highest threat, with fraud accelerating and seeing both ‘defrauding’ and the subsequent ‘laundering’ occurring within the financial system.

This means the banking sector remains highly vulnerable to money laundering, along with any sector that offers services and products enabling movement of proceeds out of or into New Zealand.

“The NRA is a key document for New Zealand’s AML/CFT system as a clear understanding of risk strengthens our system’s resilience, enabling direct responses and maximising the benefits of security for both our financial sector and communities," Mr Henry says.

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