Richard Manthel has trained over 10,000 agents and processed half a million transactions through AMLHUB. The pattern he saw repeatedly in New Zealand? Agencies that rushed their compliance setup didn’t just create a stressful few months – they built problems into their businesses that took years to undo.
When New Zealand brought real estate under anti-money laundering laws in 2019, almost everybody left it to the last couple of months.
I understand why. Busy agencies, competing priorities, a deadline that felt far away until it suddenly wasn’t.
But here’s what most people don’t realise: when you rush your AML implementation, you don’t just create a difficult few months. You create systemic failures that can plague your business for years.
When you DIY it and get it wrong, that failure stays in the business. It becomes the way things are done.
And when you get audited – or when AUSTRAC comes in to check what you’re doing – they’re going to identify that you’ve been doing it wrong for the last two years.
Then they want you to go back and fix it.
Two years’ worth of transactions. Two years’ worth of documentation. Two years’ worth of client files that need remediation.
I’ve seen this same thing play out dozens of times. And the agencies going through remediation aren’t just dealing with paperwork – they’re trying to run a business at the same time, with staff stretched thin and morale taking a hit.
The frustrating part? Most of these problems were completely avoidable.
The expertise gap
One of the things about AML is that it’s not what you know – it’s what you don’t know.
You can grab the guidance packs. You can read the legislation. You can piece together a compliance program from templates and Google searches.
But you’ll never really know if you’ve got it right until someone tells you that you haven’t.
That’s the trap. Agencies that rush their setup often feel like they’ve ticked the boxes. They’ve got a program, software, and they’ve done some training.
July 1 arrives, and they breathe a sigh of relief.
Then the audit happens.
The timeline that actually works
Australia’s July 2026 deadline feels like it’s ages away. It isn’t.
The agencies I’m working with now are going through their initial planning stages.
They’re not implementing yet – but they’re understanding their obligations, identifying their gaps, and mapping out what needs to happen.
By April, they’ll know exactly what they’re doing. They’ll have time to train staff properly, embed the right processes, and pressure-test their systems before the deadline hits.
The agencies that wait until June (or later), they’ll get something in place. But they’ll be building in the kind of shortcuts and gaps that come back to bite you – not on July 1, but in the months and years that follow.
The question to ask yourself
AUSTRAC isn’t going to review your AML program on July 2, 2026. They’ll come later – six months, twelve months, two years down the track.
When they do, would you rather be confident with a program you built carefully over months? Or defend one thrown together at risk of being full of errors?
The work you do now determines which conversation you’ll be having.
Get prepared: AMLHUB is a leading and full service AML company, offering risk assessment, compliance programs, training and an AML Software platform built for real estate companies.
Visit amlhub.com.au to start planning for July 2026.
