New priorities for the UK’s City watchdog are all well and good, but a lack of urgency is leaving fraud and financial crime to run riot, says Tony McClements.

Our Head of Investigations, Tony McClements, weighs into the debate about fraud priorities for the UK government, following the publication of the Financial Conduct Authority‘s 2024 set of priorities:

“Regulatory bodies such as the FCA can only do so much with the resources they have available. They want to press the financial sector to better leverage software systems and use advanced tools such as behavioral biometrics to detect and prevent fraud, for example. This is all well and good, but while the financial sector invests, the FCA and its counterparts struggle with real-term budgetary pressures.

“The appalling financial crime situation in the UK has many causes, not least of which is the lack of meaningful response from regulators such as the FCA, as well as from our law enforcement sector. In fact, many would say that the villains have already crossed the finishing line and left their pursuers in their wake.

“Almost every month regulators or law enforcement bodies seem to publish new initiatives in the battle against fraudsters and money launderers. Yet to my mind these have the appearance of King Canute, trying to wish away the sea of fraud as it inexorably swamps us.”

READ MORE at GRIP (Global Relay & Intelligence Practice)