Opening the regulator’s Financial Crime Conference today FCA chief executive Martin Wheatley said: “The FCA will do all it can to make Britain a hostile place for criminals to profit from their crimes.”
The FCA’s financial crime conference attended by some 400 delegates from financial service firms, the Treasury and key law enforcement agencies including the SFO, SOCA, the National Crime Agency and the FBI, discussed how tackling financial crime and protecting consumers from fraud and financial scams are a key part of its remit.
Ensuring that markets operate honestly and that firms regulated by the FCA understand and take serious measures to tackle financial crime are also key.
The FCA receives over 4,500 reports a year relating to fraud, with the average consumer detriment reported to the FCA in excess of £1m a month.
Proactively tackling such scams as boiler rooms together with consumers becoming more savvy about new kinds of fraud has, however, led to a significant reduction in those who have contacted the FCA who have actually invested in such scams from 768 in 2011 to 97 so far this year.
Current investment fraud concerns for the team include: pension liberation fraud; inheritance fraud; rare earth metals; diamonds; carbon credits and fraud relating to overseas land and property.
Tracey Dermott, director of enforcement and financial crime at the FCA, said: “Banks and other financial organisations are in the front line regarding protecting against financial crime.
“We, and they, have a common interest in working in partnership to reduce the impact of financial crime both on the economy and more widely.
“Anti-money laundering measures and sanctions are in place to protect us from criminal activity.
“Financial institutions need to take this responsibility seriously and we will do whatever is necessary to ensure they do.
“We are considering whether further regulatory action may be required in relation to certain banks in the review.”
Last year, the enforcement team handed out a record £321m in fines, more than triple the previous high number of £89m and secured landmark legal victories against illegal land banking with an increase also in the number of insider trader cases being prosecuted.
