As with the recent Property Brokers case, the company might be given a warning, and in some circumstances, this warning can be made public.

However, depending upon the seriousness of the breach, the High Court (following an application from the supervisor) can impose civil or criminal penalties. For breaches of civil offences, individuals can be fined up to $200,000, and companies up to $2 million.

Providing false or misleading information and other criminal offences - or in the case of repeated AML/CFT compliance failures - fines of up to $5 million for businesses, or $300,000 for individuals can be handed down. Alternatively, prison sentences of up to two years can be imposed.

These potential enforcement paths provide a good incentive for reporting entities to work hard to stay on the right side of the compliance line.