For a firm that practises only property law, Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) obligations raised a practical question: how do you take on a whole new regime without adding another system to the practice? This is how Colwell Conveyancing Group, a specialist property firm in Brisbane, approached AML/CTF compliance using the triSearch Compliance Centre, told through the experience of Nicholas (Nic) Gould.
What was the biggest concern going in?
Colwell Conveyancing Group is a team of about 13 people, specialising solely in residential and commercial property law. When Nic’s team first became aware of the new AML/CTF obligations, cost was a factor, but the bigger concern was structural. “For me it was about how I was going to keep our ecosystem in one place,” he says. He didn’t want another system the team would have to integrate or work around.
Why choose a solution built for property law?
Some of the other products Nic looked at meant running multiple platforms, with data moving between them manually, which he saw as adding risk. The firm chose the Compliance Centre “largely because it was tailored for property lawyers and conveyancers,” he says.
“Having a specific product tailored for property lawyers and conveyancers is critical,” he explains. “We’re lucky that that’s all we do, so we’re able to have very specific processes and tools that solely focus on what we deliver.”
How does it carry through a matter?
The turning point came when Nic saw how the Compliance Centre connected client onboarding through to triConvey and the wider triSearch ecosystem. “Once I saw that, I thought we were going to be okay,” he says.
Client onboarding now happens in one place, so the team isn’t duplicating effort. “The Compliance Centre then comes along into the actual matter type and stays with that client throughout the journey,” he explains. The firm has also worked with triSearch on APIs and integrations, so the platform can talk to its CRM and other tools.
What did setting up the program involve?
The risk assessment came first. Nic describes it as having “digitised the entire 300-page starter pack, which can be quite cumbersome and technical.” The assessment then produced a template firm policy the team could edit, and they added a few points specific to the practice.
From there, the firm onboarded and trained its staff. Training runs across 10 modules that people watch in their own time, with a short quiz at the end to check the learning has sunk in.
Why does one place matter when you’re reviewed?
With the risk assessment, policy, training, and staff onboarding and offboarding all held in the Compliance Centre, Nic sees the payoff when the firm is reviewed. “From the day you are audited or the day you are evaluated, you can just literally hand them over access to your Compliance Centre, and your entire AML/CTF regime is in there,” he says.
He’s candid that the firm hasn’t reached that point yet, and expects the full value to show once it’s audited or reviewed.
Does it matter where client data is stored?
For Nic, data held in Australia wasn’t up for debate. “I mean, it’s mandatory,” he says. He sees a cyber breach as one of the biggest risks a law firm faces. “Sovereign data protection and sovereign data storage is critical and … would be a deal breaker from our point of view.”
What else has made a difference?
Support has been consistent from the early product previews through onboarding and beyond. “It’s the Friday afternoons when you need the support inevitably, and the support team and the account managers have always been there when we’ve needed it,” Nic says.
He also points to reliance. The Compliance Centre helps the firm set up and manage reliance relationships with real estate agents and referrers. That covers a templated reliance agreement, sending, sharing, and executing it, tailoring it where needed, and incorporating it into the firm policy.
See the Compliance Centre for your firm
If your firm specialises in property and is running AML/CTF day to day, the clearest way to see whether the Compliance Centre fits your practice is to walk through it with the team. Book a demo of the Compliance Centre and see how it works across your matters: https://www.trisearch.com.au/econveyancing/aml-ctf-compliance-centre/?utm_campaign=AMLCTF&utm_medium=blog
Watch the full video below.
