Experts from a major Australian bank will be embedded alongside child-abuse investigators in a nation-first attempt to stymie the flow of cash linked to the exploitation of minors.
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Transactions related to child-abuse material will be tracked and investigated under the 12-month collaboration between ANZ and the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation.
The partnership will involve targeting and disrupting child-sex offenders' activities through the organisations' combined surveillance capabilities.
Suspicious financial transactions in Australia and abroad will be monitored by both parties, which will share their intelligence in real time.
ANZ head of financial crime threat management, Milan Gigovic, said the bank would detect potential threats using specially designed algorithms.
"Our people utilise sophisticated in-house-built intelligence tools to analyse billions of transactions from across the financial services sector and produce actionable intelligence to ensure perpetrators of serious crimes are swiftly identified and brought to justice," he said.
Mr Gigovic said having a resource embedded in the AFP-led centre would play a crucial role in helping police identify, investigate and prosecute child-sex offenders.
"The complex and cross-border nature of many financial crimes means that, more than ever before, we need strong collaboration across industry, law enforcement and government," he said.
ANZ is the first financial institution to be embedded with the centre to support efforts to tackle child-abuse material.
AFP Commander Helen Schneider said the partnership would disrupt criminals involved in sextortion, live online child-sexual abuse and organised child-sexual abuse networks.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
Australian Associated Press
