Opening a bank account
To ensure your savings from your personal budget are going into a bank account, you will need to
open one if you have not already done so.
Opening a bank account is easy as long as you know what to expect – just be ready to complete the
required steps and be prepared to provide the necessary information.
You can open a bank account by going to a branch of the bank. Opening a bank account at a bank
branch means you need to go during business hours. Or it may be possible to apply for your account
via the Internet or over the telephone. Opening a bank account via the Internet means that you can
do it at any hour of the day.
Identification
When you open a bank account for the first time, or with a new bank, you must provide the bank
with some information. Banks don’t open bank accounts without certain information which proves
you’re who you say you are.
Government legislation
The Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 was introduced by the
Australian Government to assist in the detection of money laundering activities and terrorism
funding. As part of this Act, the Government revised customer identification requirements on all
financial institutions and introduced the “100 points” check
100 points check
When opening an account or becoming a signatory to an existing account, new customers are
required to provide 100 points (minimum) of identification (see table on next page). You will need to
provide one only of the primary documents, and enough secondary documents to make up the 100
points.
Once provided, customers will not need to repeat this procedure when opening or becoming a
signatory to further accounts at the same bank.