Australia’s anti money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) regulator AUSTRAC is preparing to scale up its workforce – and associated systems and teams – to meet an expanded remit that is currently before parliament.
A bid to assemble a “talent pool” of prospective “people, culture and learning professionals” across all pay grades closed on Sunday.
The agency is hoping to tap the pool over the next 18 months to meet increased HR needs on the back of having a much larger overall workforce.
The government introduced a bill to reform AML/CTF laws last month.
The bill would notably expand obligations to real estate agencies, dealers in precious stones and metals, and “professional service providers such as lawyers, conveyancers, accountants, and trust and company service providers.”
There are also new obligations on existing financial services firms, and additional reporting requirements.
If passed, AUSTRAC is anticipating staffing up for the extra remit.
“AUSTRAC has entered an exciting phase of growth and maturity, driven by the implementation of critical AML/CTF legislative reforms,” the agency said in candidate pack.
“We are expanding our teams to support our evolving needs and to continue driving our mission of fighting financial crime.”
With an expanded workforce will come a need to manage it, with AUSTRAC indicating that it will need both HR personnel and systems investment to achieve that.
It flagged hires the spectrum of HR domains, but suggested technology would specifically play a part in the expansion of learning and development, payroll and HR technology, and workforce planning and data analytics.
On learning and development, AUSTRAC indicated it already uses “tools like Articulate 360” as a delivery method “to enrich learning experiences”.
For payroll and more core HR processes, the agency declared an interest in technology and process improvement.
It wants to “deliver customer centric payroll, conditions of employment and organisational structure functions” and “identify and implement opportunities for process improvements to execute the payroll, tax and superannuation processes” over the next 18 months.
“Technology skills are required by a range of AUSTRAC officers, including knowledge, understanding and ability to use tools and platforms for data analysis, visualisation and reporting,” an agency spokesperson told Digital Nation.
The organisation’s workforce planning and data analytics push will see AUSTRAC focus on “data-driven workforce planning, ensuring the AUSTRAC is equipped to respond to future challenges.”
It aims to have that team “transform complex data into actional insights to analyse labour market trends, address capability gaps, optimise our talent strategies, and mature our leadership strategy.”