In accordance with section 157(6)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (“Act”), the Associate Minister of Justice hereby gives notice that he has granted the following exemption from the Act:

Ministerial Exemption: Community Trust of Southland

1. In my capacity as the Associate Minister of Justice and pursuant to section 157 of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (“Act”), I exempt the Community Trust of Southland from all provisions of the Act except:
1. Part 2, Subpart 2 – Suspicious transaction reports (sections 40–48); and
2. Part 3, Subpart 3 – Offences relating to suspicious transaction reports (sections 92–100).
2. The exemption has been granted for the following reasons:
1. There is a very low risk of money laundering and terrorist financing through the Community Trust of Southland as:
1. it is a philanthropic trust that does not receive money from donors and makes social loans derived from income from its investment portfolio;
2. it offers defined charitable and philanthropic services across a limited geographical area and has appropriate internal procedures and due diligence processes when undertaking its charitable purposes. The trust operates under the Community Trusts Act 1999;
3. it makes a low number of loans each year to borrowers who are all formally constituted non-profit organisations; and
4. the Trustees make the final decision on all lending applications.
2. Due to the very low money laundering and terrorism financing risks raised by the Community Trust of Southland and the significant compliance costs that would arise from not granting this exemption, I consider that any benefits of requiring compliance with the Act are not justified by the associated costs.
3. This exemption is consistent with (and has no effect on the purpose or intent of) the Act, the Financial Transactions Reporting Act 1996 and New Zealand’s international obligations as a member of the Financial Action Task Force and the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering.
3. This exemption came into force on the day after the date I granted this exemption (5 April 2016).
4. This exemption will expire on 30 June 2018.

Any person wishing to provide comment on this notice should contact the Criminal Law Team at the Ministry of Justice by emailing international.crime@justice.govt.nz.