Tackling dirty money

The UK government needs to up the ante in its fight against financial crime, researchers have found.

A report, Money Laundering Exposed, by LexisNexis® Risk Solutions, warns the UK needs to do far more to tackle the issue. London is currently known as the money laundering capital of the world.

Businesses have invested huge amounts and financial and professional services sectors taken significant steps to fight financial crime. Criminals, however, see the current regime of sanctions and penalties as merely the cost of doing business, according to a range of experts interviewed for the report, including representatives from Barclays, RBS, the National Crime Agency and former regulators.

Some of the experts suggested certain aspects of the regulatory framework, such as the need for transparency, are preventing the use of useful crime-fighting tools, including analytics and artificial intelligence. An expert at one leading UK bank, for example, said these tools could represent a ‘real breakthrough’ and stressed the need to ‘join the dots across different areas’ to fight financial crime.

Another expert quoted in the report said there is a strong desire to see ‘more criminals in prison and more assets denied and seized from those criminals’.

Michael Harris, Director, Financial Crime Compliance and Regulatory Risk at LexisNexis® Risk Solutions, said: ‘It’s fair to say that the UK has come a long way in strengthening its defences against financial crime in recent years.

‘However, it would be disastrous for us to halt progress now or become complacent in our approach. Financial crime is on the rise—it’s pernicious, pervasive and present—and the only way to truly combat it is to work together, armed with the latest technologies and the power to hit criminals where it hurts. The UK needs to send a clear message to criminals—that the UK is not a money laundering hub but instead a force to be reckoned with.’