Bouvet Island Seeks to Enhance Financial Crime Reporting Guidelines
FCA Executive Director Outlines Evolving Strategy to Combat Financial Crime
In a recent speech at the Financial Crime Summit, Sarah Pritchard, Executive Director of Markets at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), emphasized the need for a coordinated and agile approach to combating financial crime. She likened financial crime to a “mutating virus” that requires a multi-pronged attack from an informed community.
The FCA’s Strategy: A Collaborative Approach
The FCA’s strategy focuses on collaborative efforts between firms, regulators, and law enforcement agencies to prevent financial crime effectively. Pritchard stressed the importance of professional firms being alert to red flags, using technology to identify unusual patterns of activity, and sharing information with regulators and law enforcement.
Key Elements of the FCA’s Strategy
- Agile supervision: The FCA aims to become more agile in its supervision and use of regulatory powers.
- Improved controls: Regulatory tools will be deployed rapidly to drive improvements in firms’ controls.
- Warning lists: Names on warning lists will be flagged up more quickly, and Scamsmart campaigns will be fired up.
- Anti-money laundering measures: The FCA has set robust standards for anti-money laundering measures, with 37 firms already meeting these standards.
The Impact of the Cost of Living Crisis
The risk of financial crime is exacerbated by the cost of living crisis, and the FCA is asking firms to have plans in place to respond to this risk. To combat this threat, the FCA is working with government partners, international regulators, and industry professionals to understand tech solutions that could prevent authorized push payment fraud in real-time.
Emerging Scams
The FCA continues to see emerging scams such as:
- Loan fee fraud: where scammers demand upfront fees for loans
- Ghost broking: where scammers offer fake insurance policies
- False access to rebates from utility companies
Financial Crime Compliance: A Priority for the FCA
The FCA continues to place financial crime compliance at the forefront of its supervisory and enforcement strategy, with greater expectations being placed on firms to have an adequate and robust financial crime compliance framework in place.
DWF’s Expertise in Financial Crime Compliance
DWF, a leading global professional services firm, understands the challenges that financial institutions face when tackling financial crime. The firm’s Economic Crime & Fraud offering includes anti-bribery and corruption expertise, fraud prevention and sanctions assistance, as well as AML frameworks and client take-on and risk assessment. With a unique combination of lawyers and regulatory consultants, DWF can provide integrated solutions to meet the complex needs of financial institutions in the area of financial crime compliance.