Start with the partnership
A partnership is a customer type with specific information requirements. Rules section 6-2 applies when the reporting entity provides the designated service through an Australian permanent establishment.
The reporting entity must establish the partnership’s identity on reasonable grounds. It also needs the applicable information about ownership, control and the business relationship.
Sources: Federal Register of Legislation: Section 6-2; AUSTRAC: Customer identity; Nature and purpose; Persons acting on behalf of the customer.
Information about the partnership
The minimum identity information includes the full name, business names, other known names and any unique identifier. It also includes the principal operating address and any registered office address.
Collect evidence that the partnership exists and information about the powers that bind and govern it. Collect the names of those with primary responsibility for governance and executive decisions. Include a director identification number where applicable.
The partnership agreement can help explain these matters. AUSTRAC gives the partnership name and any business ABN as examples for verification. The reporting entity uses reliable and independent data appropriate to the requirement.
Sources: Federal Register of Legislation: Section 6-2(2); AUSTRAC: Customer identity; Nature and purpose; Persons acting on behalf of the customer.
Partners, control and authority
A partner’s name and a representative’s authority answer different questions. Establish the identity and authority of the person who deals with you for the partnership.
Examine the ownership and control structure to identify the relevant beneficial owners. A corporate partner may require examination of the people behind it. The shared ownership guides explain that process.
An absence of obvious shares does not remove control questions. The partnership agreement and actual decision powers can be relevant.
Sources: AUSTRAC: Customer identity; Nature and purpose; Persons acting on behalf of the customer; AUSTRAC: Beneficial ownership; Control; Determining ownership and control.
- Partnership
Establish the customer’s identity and governing powers.
- Ownership and control
Examine the relevant partners and control arrangements.
- Representative
Establish the person’s identity and authority.
Separate the partnership from the people acting for it
A partner’s name does not by itself establish a representative’s authority. Apply the detailed information and modified-measure conditions in the article.
Follow the process from top to bottom.
Modified measures have conditions
Rules section 6-19 can reduce identity verification for a representative of a customer that is not an individual. The representative’s authority must already be established on reasonable grounds.
Any additional risk from the representative must be low. Appropriate KYC information must have been collected, with no reasonable grounds to doubt its adequacy or truth.
Other simplified measures have their own conditions. The legal form alone does not qualify the partnership for them. Enhanced CDD can require further work.
Source: Federal Register of Legislation: Sections 6-17 to 6-19.
A corporate partner gives instructions
In a fictional partnership, one partner is a company. An employee of that company asks a practice to provide a designated service to the partnership.
The practice identifies the partnership as the customer. It examines the employee’s authority and the partnership’s ownership and control. A company email address does not establish all three matters.
Sources: AUSTRAC: Customer identity; Nature and purpose; Persons acting on behalf of the customer; AUSTRAC: Beneficial ownership; Control; Determining ownership and control.