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For law, conveyancing, accounting and real estate firms in Australia and New Zealand

Your firm must train its people. Can you prove it did?

Australian firms covered by AML/CTF must train their staff, and the e-conveyancing rules require cyber training for every PEXA and Sympli user. DefSafe trains your people in five-minute lessons and keeps the record.

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  • Written from the rules themselves
  • Five-minute lessons
  • No account needed to try
A DefSafe lesson on a phone: How a Settlement Gets Redirected, with the presenter in the corner.
What is at stake

The penalties land on the firm

Regulators can fine, audit and suspend. Insurers can raise your excess. Training your people is part of every one of these duties.

  • A notice of appointment of an external auditor asking for records of AML/CTF staff training.

    A$36.4m

    Maximum civil penalty per contravention for a company under Australia's AML/CTF Act. A firm's AML/CTF program must provide for staff training.

    AUSTRAC, October 2026

  • An AML/CFT training register with the completed column left blank, a reviewer pointing at it.

    NZ$2m

    Maximum civil penalty for a company that fails its AML/CFT programme duties in New Zealand. The programme must include staff training.

    AML/CFT Act 2009, s 57 and s 90, October 2026

  • A conveyancer's screen showing access suspended, with a sticky note: settlement today 2:00 pm.

    Suspended

    A firm in material breach of the e-conveyancing Participation Rules can have its PEXA or Sympli access restricted, suspended or terminated. The rules require cyber training for every user.

    NSW Registrar General, November 2025

  • A professional indemnity claim form: email account compromise, no multi-factor authentication.

    2× excess

    Victoria's solicitors' insurer doubles the excess on email-compromise claims where the email account had no multi-factor authentication.

    LPLC, since 1 July 2023

DefSafe covers the training part of each duty and keeps the record. It does not replace a firm's own program, policies or advice.

Courses

What your people learn

3 courses, 9 lessons, five minutes each.

  • A conveyancer calling the client back, settlement statement in hand, with the changed-bank-details email on her screen.

    Payment redirection fraud

    How a settlement gets redirected, the call-back before any payment, and what to do in the first hour after.

    A$166.8m lost to payment redirection in Australia in 2025 (ACCC)

  • A settlement clerk typing the code from his authenticator app into the lodgment network sign-in.

    E-conveyancing cyber training

    Secure use of the lodgment network, your own systems and email: the three topics the Participation Rules set for every PEXA and Sympli user.

    Model Participation Rules version 7, rule 7.2.1

  • A real estate agent holding a client's driver licence up beside the client's face to compare.

    AML/CTF starter

    Why your firm is now a reporting entity, knowing your customer, and the training records AUSTRAC and the DIA expect.

    Both Australia and New Zealand require AML staff training

A compliance manager and a colleague reviewing training at her desk, a tabbed rulebook open beside the keyboard.
Why DefSafe

Built from the rules, around what people actually do

  • Written from the rules

    Each lesson is built from the rule text and official guidance it covers, and checked against it before it is published.

  • Routines, not awareness

    People learn the steps that stop the loss: the call-back before a payment, the identity check, the first hour after a redirection.

  • Proof when someone asks

    AUSTRAC and the DIA both expect a register of who was trained and when. Every lesson ends with questions, and every completion is recorded.

For partners

Sold through the organisations firms already rely on

Insurers, AML providers and professional bodies license DefSafe for every firm they serve, under their brand or ours.

An insurance renewal pack with an insert offering fraud training for the firm's staff.

  • Professional indemnity and cyber insurers

    You pay for the redirected settlements. One licence trains every firm you cover.

  • AML software and consultancies

    You write your clients' AML/CTF programs. Add the staff training those programs call for.

  • Professional bodies and networks

    Law societies, conveyancing institutes, real estate and accounting networks: a programme your members finish in minutes.

How licensing works

Running a firm yourself? Tell us which one and we will tell you how to get it.

Beyond Australia and New Zealand

The same duty in other countries

The UK, Ireland, Canada and Singapore put similar AML training duties on the same professions. A partner there can ask us for its own version.

  • On request

    United Kingdom

    Solicitors, conveyancers, accountants and estate agents must make staff aware of the law and train them regularly, with a written record.

    Money Laundering Regulations 2017, reg 24

  • On request

    Ireland

    Solicitors, accountants and property services must instruct staff on the law and give them ongoing training.

    Criminal Justice Act 2010, s 54(6)

  • On request

    Canada

    Real estate brokers and accountants need a written, ongoing training program as part of their compliance program.

    Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act

  • On request

    Singapore

    Estate agents, law practices and accounting firms each carry AML/CFT duties under their own regulators.

    CEA, Ministry of Law, ACRA

Ask about your country
Questions

Before you ask

How do partners license DefSafe?
One licence covers every firm you serve: the firms you insure, the clients whose programs you write, or your members. We agree the scope, tailor the lessons to those firms and run it under your brand or ours. The licensing page has the three kinds of deal.
Does it replace a firm's own AML/CTF program?
No. Each firm still needs its own program, risk assessment and policies. DefSafe trains the firm's people on what that program asks of them.
Where does the content come from?
Each lesson is written from the rules and official guidance it covers, such as the ARNECC Participation Rules, the AML/CTF Rules and AUSTRAC and DIA guidance, and checked against them before it is published.
Is this legal advice?
No. The lessons are general training, not legal, compliance or financial advice. Each firm stays responsible for its own compliance.
How long does it take?
About five minutes a lesson. A course is a few lessons, so most people finish one in a sitting.
Can the lessons follow our own procedures?
Yes. Under a licence the lessons are tailored to the firms in scope: their procedures, their wording and their brand or ours.

See a lesson for yourself

It takes five minutes and no account. Then tell us which firms you serve.

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