Client asks why ID is stored for seven years

People search “how long AML records kept client explanation” when a vendor at an agency asks why the firm will not delete their identity the day after settlement. Checked against the Home Affairs page on what AML/CTF regulation means on 4 October 2026. This is general information, not legal advice. This page does not reproduce that guidance. How to explain AML without a lecture is on how to talk about AML with clients. What the check collects is on customer due diligence requirements. The sector map is /tranche-2.

The sentence the desk can say

The client’s question is fair. They handed over identity and they want to know who keeps it. The plain answer is that a reporting entity keeps records of the designated service, including customer due diligence, for seven years. You are not storing it to advertise the next listing.

You are storing it because the law tells the firm to be able to show what it did. Do not add a countdown you have not checked. Different records can run from different dates, and the program should say which. The agent at the door does not guess “seven years from today” or “seven years from settlement” as if those were the same; offer the compliance officer if the client wants the counting rule for their file; this page does not count it for them.

• Say the reason in one line. We keep it for seven years because the AML law requires the record. Then stop.
• Do not promise settlement-day deletion. That promise will be false if the period is still running.
• Separate marketing. The identity copy is not a list for a newsletter. Say that if they ask.
• Send privacy questions to the right regime. A privacy request is not answered by shortening the AML period on the spot.

What people ask, and what you do not promise

The front desk hears the same four versions. Answer the version they asked. Do not upgrade it into a legal opinion about privacy damages or a date calculation.

Where the seven-year page stops

This page is the client explanation. It is not a talking-points manual and it is not the CDD requirements guide. Those are how to talk about AML with clients and customer due diligence requirements. FreeAML does not calculate the retention date and does not destroy the record.

The firm suite is A$0. The check itself is client-pays.

What the client pays

On FreeAML the firm suite is A$0. The firm emails the client a link. Verification is client-pays. On the public list a personal KYC check is A$20 and a company or trust KYB check is A$40. Use KYB when the customer is a company or a trust. The firm suite does not include a records-destruction service, and deleting a file early is not part of the check. Confirm the live amounts on FreeAML pricing. FreeAML does not calculate the seven-year date on a particular file or destroy a record.

Frequently Asked Questions