{"id":777019543,"date":"2024-10-01T04:43:09","date_gmt":"2024-10-01T07:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777019543"},"modified":"2026-04-22T05:38:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T08:38:38","slug":"austrac-ceo-brendan-thomas-announced-as-speaker-for-regulating-the-game-2025-sydney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/austrac-ceo-brendan-thomas-announced-as-speaker-for-regulating-the-game-2025-sydney","title":{"rendered":"AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas announced as speaker for Regulating the Game 2025 Sydney"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Paul Newson, organiser of Regulating the Game, said AUSTRAC CEO’s participation “emphasises the importance of making sure the industry is alert to money laundering risks and continually strengthened against financial crime.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Press release.- The organisers of Regulating the Game 2025<\/a> have announced that Mr Brendan Thomas<\/strong>, chief executive officer of AUSTRAC, will be a featured speaker at the 2025 edition of the conference, taking place at the Sofitel Sydney Darling Harbour from 10-13 March 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Thomas, who began his 5-year term as AUSTRAC CEO in January 2024, brings extensive experience in leading public services and delivering reforms, particularly within NSW’s criminal and civil justice systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the head of Australia’s financial intelligence unit and AML\/CTF regulator, he oversees AUSTRAC’s efforts to safeguard the financial sector from criminal exploitation while providing critical intelligence to support national security, law enforcement, and regulatory partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AUSTRAC has intensified its focus on the gambling sector<\/strong>, following a series of high-profile enforcement actions against major casino operators and several corporate bookmakers. Reports in the Financial Review have also highlighted AUSTRAC\u2019s increased scrutiny of pubs and clubs in the wake of the 2022 NSW Crime Commission\u2019s Project Islington, which, while finding no widespread laundering of criminal proceeds, revealed significant amounts of illicit funds being gambled in these venues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul Newson<\/strong>, principal at Vanguard Overwatch and organiser of Regulating the Game, commented, “Having Brendan Thomas speak at the conference signals AUSTRAC\u2019s ongoing commitment to the gambling sector. His participation emphasises the importance of making sure the industry is alert to money laundering risks and continually strengthened against financial crime.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Thomas’ presentation is expected to offer invaluable insights for regulators, industry leaders, and key stakeholders<\/strong>, especially as AUSTRAC\u2019s role in combatting financial crime is set to expand further with the anticipated passing of the Government\u2019s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Bill 2024. This legislation aims to extend the AML\/CTF regime to high-risk professions, such as real estate agents, lawyers, accountants, and dealers in precious metals and stones, marking a pivotal shift in Australia\u2019s regulatory landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regulating the Game 2025 will be held in Sydney, Australia, from March 10th to 13th. The event will once again serve as a platform for thought leaders, innovators, and regulators to come together and explore the most pressing issues in the gambling sector. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

See also:<\/strong>\u00a0Regulating the Game confirms first two speakers of Masterclass Series<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paul Newson, organiser of Regulating the Game, said AUSTRAC CEO’s participation “emphasises the importance of making sure the industry is alert to money laundering risks and continually strengthened against financial crime.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":777019889,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":true,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas will speak at Regulating the Game 2025, underscoring the regulator's intensified focus on AML\/CTF risks within the Australian gambling sector. His participation signals AUSTRAC's commitment to strengthening financial crime defenses, particularly amidst ongoing scrutiny of casino operators, corporate bookmakers, and pubs\/clubs, and the anticipated expansion of Australia's AML\/CTF regime.","focusai_entities":"Paul Newson, Brendan Thomas, AUSTRAC, Vanguard Overwatch, NSW Crime Commission, Financial Review","focusai_location":"Australia, Sydney, NSW","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.9), payments_fraud_aml (1.0), investor_analyst (0.85), supplier_vendor (0.75), journalist_researcher (0.9), tech_data (0.7)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"AUSTRAC's Enforcement Outlook","query":"What specific enforcement priorities and operational changes can gambling operators anticipate from AUSTRAC following the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Bill 2024?"},{"label":"AML\/CTF Regime Expansion","query":"How will the expansion of Australia's AML\/CTF regime to high-risk professions impact the data sharing and intelligence collaboration between AUSTRAC and the gambling sector?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,4,24777,159],"tags":[24471],"class_list":["post-777019543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-events-articles","category-partner-news","category-shows","tag-regulating-the-game-2025-sydney","press-release"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777019543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777019543"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777019543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777019544,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777019543\/revisions\/777019544"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777019889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777019543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777019543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777019543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}