Refreshed SMR reference guide with clearer examples

30 March 2026

High‑quality, accurate and timely suspicious matter reports (SMR) are essential to Australia’s financial intelligence capability. The financial intelligence community relies on clear, accurate information that reporting entities provide to identify and disrupt financial crime, terrorism financing and other illicit activities.

We have refreshed the SMR reference guide to help you improve the quality of your SMRs. The updated guide strengthens best-practice expectations for drafting grounds for suspicion (GFS) text.

Why the guide needed an update

We have identified several areas where the data quality of SMRs can be improved, particularly in formatting and language conventions. Specifically, we identified that use of ALL CAPS in GFS text is not consistent with best practice and can:

• reduce readability for analysts
• distort sentiment analysis (appearing as “shouting”)
• impair entity recognition and keyword matching
• create challenges in crypto wallet and transaction-based analysis. This can make it harder for our analysts and analytics tools to identify potential risks clearly.

What’s new in the refreshed SMR reference guide

The updated reference guide includes the following improvements:

• all GFS examples rewritten in standard case (not ALL CAPS)
• a new crypto know your customer (KYC) reporting scenario that reflects contemporary financial‑system risks
• a stronger emphasis on simple language, including clear, concise, factual descriptions organised under logical headings
• improved guidance on how to structure GFS text to enhance readability and improve automated analysis
• ongoing reminders to avoid formatting choices that hinder analysts and machine learning tools. These refinements reflect industry feedback and our commitment to working with you to continually improve the quality of your reporting.

Why clear, case‑sensitive writing matters

Small stylistic choices can significantly influence analytical outcomes. Using standard case and simple language improves:

• speed and accuracy of human review
• performance of text-analysis tools, including sentiment analysis
• named entity recognition, enabling more reliable identification of people, businesses and objects linked to suspicious activity
• crypto-related transaction reporting
• consistency in how information is processed and compared across the system. These enhancements collectively strengthen Australia’s ability to detect and respond to financial crime.

A stronger partnership for better reporting

We will continue working closely with you through engagement, education and updates to guidance materials.

These small improvements further help us in preventing, detecting and responding to criminal abuse of the financial system to protect your business, customers and the community from serious and organised crime.

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