You Sell Jewellery. Now You're a Reporting Entity. Here's What AML/CTF DPMS Australia 2026 Means.

If you run a jewellery shop, trade bullion, deal in loose stones or buy and sell pre-owned watches, there's a real chance you became an AUSTRAC reporting entity on 1 July 2026 — and a large number of business owners in this sector still have no idea.

That's not an exaggeration. Australia's Tranche 2 AML/CTF reforms — introduced by the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Act 2024 — pulled tens of thousands of "gatekeeper" businesses into the anti-money laundering regime for the first time, and dealers in precious metals and stones (DPMS) are squarely on the list alongside real estate agents, conveyancers, accountants and lawyers. The obligations are now in force.

Why a small jeweller gets caught

The reforms don't regulate "jewellers" as a profession — they regulate specific designated services. For your sector, the designated service is set out in section 6(3), Table 2 of the AML/CTF Act ("bullion and precious metals, stones and products"), and the trigger to understand is cash.

You're providing a designated service when you buy or sell precious metals, stones or products in the course of your business and the transaction is settled with $10,000 or more in physical currency or virtual assets — whether in a single transaction or in linked transactions that add up to that amount. Pay close attention to "linked": deals deliberately split to stay under $10,000 still count.

Think about how ordinary that is in retail jewellery and bullion:

• A walk-in customer paying cash for a high-value ring or gold chain.
• A seller bringing in scrap gold or coins for cash.
• A bullion buyer settling in cash to stay "discreet".
• A watch trader doing a cash deal at a fair or market.

One important nuance AUSTRAC spells out: if the customer pays only by debit card, credit card or bank transfer, you're not providing this designated service — the threshold is about cash and virtual assets. And where a sale mixes regulated and unregulated items, only the regulated items count toward the $10,000.

Why your sector is a priority

None of this feels like financial crime. That's exactly the point — cash-intensive, high-value, easily-resold goods are attractive to money launderers, which is why AUSTRAC treats DPMS as a priority sector for the new regime. Portable goods that hold value, convert easily back to cash, and don't ask questions are a classic vehicle for cleaning illicit funds — including through trade-based money laundering where the goods themselves move value across a chain of transactions.

The obligations you now carry

As a newly captured reporting entity you're expected to have, among other things:

• AUSTRAC enrolment — enrolment opened 31 March 2026; the obligation sits at s 51B of the Act. Newly regulated businesses must enrol within 28 days of starting to provide a designated service.
• A documented ML/TF risk assessment (s 26C) kept up to date before you provide designated services (s 26E).
• Written AML/CTF policies (s 26F) and a complete AML/CTF program (s 26B).
• Customer due diligence (CDD) — identifying and verifying who you're dealing with on each regulated transaction.
• Transaction reporting — Threshold Transaction Reports (TTRs) for cash of $10,000 or more (s 43) and Suspicious Matter Reports (SMRs) for anything suspicious (s 41).
• Record keeping for seven years and ongoing staff training.

The hardest part is knowing which transactions count

The genuine pain point for jewellers isn't ill intent — it's uncertainty. Which sales trip the threshold? Does a part-cash, part-card payment count? What about linked transactions across a fortnight? Guessing is how good businesses end up non-compliant.

This is where Veriqua's sector-specific obligation checklist earns its place. Instead of reading the Act and hoping you've interpreted it correctly, Veriqua maps exactly which of your transaction types trigger AML/CTF duties for a DPMS business — so your counter staff know, in plain English, when an ID check or a report is required and when it isn't. No guessing, no "I think we're fine."

Veriqua is a live Australian compliance platform built for newly regulated Tranche 2 entities, with data hosted in Australia. If you sell precious metals, stones or high-value jewellery, the first move is simply to find out how exposed you are. See it in two minutes, no login: demo.veriqua.com.au/start.