AUSTRAC publishes risk insights and indicators of suspicious activity for dealers in precious stones, metals and products, a sector it treats as high money-laundering risk — bullion and gemstones are high-value, portable, and easily converted to cash across borders, which is exactly the combination that makes a good store of value also a convenient laundering vehicle. Under Tranche 2, dealers providing designated services are now AUSTRAC reporting entities.
Why is this sector specifically exposed?
Three properties make precious metals attractive to launderers: high value concentrated in a small, portable form; a liquid resale market that converts back to cash quickly; and, historically, limited transaction-level scrutiny compared to the banking sector. A single transaction can move a large sum with none of the paper trail a bank transfer would generate — which is precisely the gap Tranche 2 is designed to close.
What actually brings a dealer into scope?
Buying, selling, or facilitating transactions in bullion, gemstones, and similar high-value materials as a designated service — the ordinary course of a dealer's business, not an incidental or one-off sale outside it. Dealers assessing their own exposure should look at their regular transaction activity against this designated-service definition rather than assuming every high-value sale counts, or that none do.
What specific threshold triggers reporting?
Transfers of $10,000 or more in physical currency trigger a threshold transaction report (TTR) to AUSTRAC, on top of the ordinary customer due diligence and monitoring obligations that apply across a dealer's designated services generally. AUSTRAC defines the trigger as physical currency, cash such as bank notes or coins, with the same threshold applying to foreign currency of equivalent value. Transfers involving virtual assets are reportable, but under separate obligations in the Act rather than as threshold transactions, so do not assume one report covers both. That reporting duty sits alongside — not instead of — the broader AML/CTF programme requirement, so a dealer can't treat threshold reporting as the whole of its compliance obligation.
What does a dealer need to have in place now?
A documented, risk-based AML/CTF programme specific to the business, for which AUSTRAC publishes a jeweller starter kit; customer due diligence at onboarding and ongoing; threshold and suspicious matter reporting to AUSTRAC; and seven-year record retention. AUSTRAC enrolment was required by 31 March 2026, with full compliance required from 1 July 2026 — both dates have now passed, so this is the operating standard AUSTRAC now expects dealers to meet. See the Tranche 2 impact on precious metals and stone dealers for the fuller regulatory detail.
