Who's the "reporting entity" — me, my agency, or my franchise?
Which legal entity in your structure holds the AML/CTF obligations.
A "reporting entity" is the person or organisation that provides the designated service. The obligations attach to that entity — not to the individual agent, not to the franchise group, and not to the sales team.
For a single-office independent agency, the reporting entity is usually the company that holds the real estate licence and contracts with vendors and buyers. The directors and the licensee in charge are not personally the reporting entity, but they bear governance responsibility for it.
For multi-office groups, the answer depends on corporate structure. If each office is a separate licensed company, each company is its own reporting entity and enrols separately. If multiple offices operate under one licensed entity, that entity enrols once and the programme covers all offices.
Franchises are the trickiest. National franchise brands (the franchisor) generally do not represent buyers or sellers themselves and therefore are not reporting entities under Items 53–55. Each franchisee is its own legal entity, holds its own licence, and is its own reporting entity. The franchisor may provide programme templates or training material, but the legal obligation — and the penalty exposure — sits with the franchisee.
A "designated business group" (DBG) election is available under the AML/CTF Act 2006 (Cth), allowing related reporting entities to share certain compliance functions (such as a common programme and Compliance Officer) while remaining individually liable. This can reduce duplicated work for groups under common ownership but does not transfer liability up the chain.
The practical implication is that every legal entity that signs an agency agreement with a vendor — or a buyer's agency agreement with a buyer — is its own reporting entity with its own enrolment, programme, and seven-year record set.
What to do next: Confirm with your accountant or solicitor which legal entity in your structure provides the designated service, and whether a DBG election makes sense for your group.