ANZ transaction tracer joins AFP-led real-time data enabled crime crackdown

ANZ Banking Group has embedded one of its transaction-tracing specialists into a joint initiative between the financial services sector and law enforcement agencies aimed at disrupting crime through bolstering real-time intelligence sharing.

The bank is the first to dedicate a team member to the intelligence fusion cell housed in the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE).

ANZ executive and head of financial crime threat management Milan Gigovic said the cross-border nature of many financial crimes made strong collaboration across industry, law enforcement and government imperative.

“By having a dedicated resource embedded in the ACCCE to share industry insights and financial intelligence, ANZ will play a crucial role in aiding the AFP and its partners to successfully identify, investigate and prosecute child sex offenders,” Gigovic said in a statement.

An ANZ financial crime team member will join the AFP-led ACCCE for a period of 12 months under an agreement signed yesterday.

Gigovic said that ANZ had long supported the national policing work combating serious crime types like money laundering, cybercrime, terrorism, fraud, and child exploitation.

“Our dedicated financial crime team design specialised algorithms to detect potential threats against the most vulnerable members of our communities," he said.

“Our people utilise sophisticated in-house built intelligence tools to analyse billions of transactions from across the financial services sector and produce actionable intelligence to ensure perpetrators of serious crimes are swiftly identified and brought to justice.”

AFP commander human exploitation Helen Schneider from the ACCCE said that access to more real-time financial sector data would support the agency in disrupting a range of crimes against young people, including sextortion and live online child sexual abuse.