What is 'structuring' and why should property professionals care?
Structuring is one of the oldest and most common money laundering techniques. Property professionals need to understand what it looks like and how to respond when they encounter it.
What is structuring?
Definition
Structuring (also called 'smurfing') is the practice of breaking up transactions into smaller amounts to avoid triggering reporting thresholds or to evade detection. The person conducting the structuring deliberately arranges transactions to stay below the radar.
The most well-known threshold is the $10,000 cash reporting requirement for financial institutions. However, structuring can apply to any threshold-based reporting obligation or any pattern designed to avoid scrutiny.
Legal consequences
Structuring is a specific offence under the AML/CTF Act. It is illegal to:
Criminal Offences
- Conduct structured transactions: Breaking up transactions to avoid thresholds or detection
- Direct or encourage structuring: Instructing others to structure transactions on your behalf
- Aid or abet structuring: Helping someone else conduct structured transactions
These offences carry significant penalties including imprisonment and substantial fines.
Important: The offence of structuring applies to the person conducting the structured transactions. As a property professional, if you become aware of or suspect structuring, you have reporting obligations - but you are not committing an offence simply by receiving structured payments (provided you report appropriately).
Common structuring indicators in property
Property transactions can involve structuring in various ways. Here are the key patterns to watch for:
Multiple small deposit payments
Instead of one deposit payment, the purchaser makes multiple smaller payments over time. For example, five $9,000 cash payments rather than one $45,000 payment.
Multiple contributors to purchase price
Funds arrive from many different sources - multiple bank accounts, different individuals, or varied financial institutions - without clear explanation of the relationships.
Bank cheques from different accounts
Settlement funds arrive via multiple bank cheques drawn on different accounts or institutions. This may indicate funds have been deliberately split across accounts.
Cash components just under thresholds
Any cash component that appears deliberately set just under a reporting threshold (e.g., multiple $9,500 cash payments) is a significant red flag.
Legitimate vs suspicious multiple contributions
Not every transaction with multiple fund sources is suspicious. Many property purchases legitimately involve funds from various sources:
Often Legitimate
- Parents contributing to child's first home
- Savings from multiple personal accounts
- Sale proceeds from another property
- Combination of savings and loan
- Joint purchasers each contributing
Potentially Suspicious
- Unexplained third-party contributors
- Multiple contributors with no clear relationship
- Amounts just under reporting thresholds
- Cash components from unknown sources
- Reluctance to explain fund sources
The key difference is often the explanation. Legitimate multiple contributions usually have a clear, verifiable explanation. Suspicious structuring often involves vague explanations, reluctance to provide details, or stories that don't add up.
How to document and report
When you identify potential structuring indicators:
Your Response Process
- Document your observations: Record exactly what you observed - dates, amounts, sources and any explanations provided. Be factual and specific.
- Seek clarification: If appropriate, ask the customer to explain the payment arrangements. Their response (or refusal to respond) is relevant information.
- Escalate internally: Discuss with your AML Compliance Officer or principal. Multiple perspectives help assess whether the activity is genuinely suspicious.
- Assess whether suspicion is formed: Based on all available information, determine whether you have formed a suspicion on reasonable grounds.
- Report if required: If you form a suspicion, file a suspicious matter report (SMR) with AUSTRAC within the required timeframe.
- Do not tip off: You must not inform the customer that you have reported or intend to report the matter.
Practical tips
- Keep records of payment sources: Document where funds come from, not just that they arrived.
- Ask early: Understand the source of funds at the start of the transaction, not just at settlement.
- Trust your instincts: If a payment pattern seems deliberately designed to avoid scrutiny, it probably is.
- Don't coach: Never suggest to a customer how to structure payments to avoid thresholds - this could make you liable.
- Train your team: Ensure all staff who handle funds understand structuring indicators and escalation procedures.
Need help with AML/CTF compliance?
HeadStart Docs™ offers digital products for property professionals that include structuring indicators, documentation checklists and reporting procedures.
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