AUSTRAC Expands Pacific AML Capability With Financial Intelligence and Crypto Tracing Training
AUSTRAC has expanded its anti-money laundering and financial-intelligence capability-building work across the Pacific, delivering two intensive training programs in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands during August 2026.
The Australian financial intelligence unit said the initiatives, supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, are designed to strengthen regional cooperation, improve the use of financial intelligence and help Pacific authorities detect and disrupt money laundering, illicit financial flows and other serious transnational crime.
Four-day financial intelligence program in Papua New Guinea
From 3 to 6 August, AUSTRAC delivered a four-day International Financial Intelligence Tradecraft Training program in Papua New Guinea under the Australia-PNG Bilateral Security Agreement.
The program brought together analysts, police, prosecutors and anti-corruption agencies. Participants worked through realistic simulated case studies based on real-world money-laundering typologies, with a focus on analysing financial intelligence, developing investigative findings and using financial information across Papua New Guinea’s broader AML regime.
AUSTRAC said the course was specifically developed for international Financial Intelligence Unit counterparts and is intended to improve the ability of PNG authorities to detect, investigate and disrupt money laundering and other serious financial crimes.
Twelve Pacific FIUs trained on cryptocurrency tracing
AUSTRAC then brought representatives from 12 Pacific financial intelligence units to Honiara, Solomon Islands, for a five-day cryptocurrency tracing and intelligence-writing course from 17 to 21 August.
The specialised program trained participants to identify and investigate illicit activity involving virtual assets using open-source tools. AUSTRAC said this was the first formal structured training program it had delivered in the Solomon Islands.
The course reflects the growing role of virtual assets in regional financial crime risks. AUSTRAC noted that criminal groups are increasingly seeking new ways to move and conceal illicit funds through virtual assets, making cryptocurrency tracing an increasingly important capability for financial intelligence officers.
The Solomon Islands program builds on AUSTRAC’s broader Pacific training pathway, which progresses from foundational financial-intelligence skills to advanced and specialised capabilities. Many participants had previously completed AUSTRAC’s Financial Intelligence Analyst Course in late 2025.
The initiatives show a practical focus on strengthening FIU-to-FIU capability and cross-agency cooperation in the Pacific, particularly around following complex financial flows and tracing virtual-asset transactions.
