The opinions expressed here are those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of UK Finance or its members.

Transparency International’s (TI’s) latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) confirms that the UK’s slide in global anti-corruption rankings has persisted, despite our hopes that the decline had stabilised.

The global context

As a reminder, the CPI measures perceived levels of public sector corruption in 182 countries and territories. The index draws upon 13 independent data sources to score each country out of 100, with lower scores indicating higher levels of perceived corruption. 

Globally, the picture remains bleak. Since 2012, only 31 countries have seen an improvement in their score, with 50 declining and 100 remaining stagnant, resulting in 2025 seeing the first decline in the global average of 42 (-1) in over a decade. 

This year has also seen a continued trend of poor performance from historically well-performing democracies, with the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, France, Spain and Italy experiencing stagnation or decline. These poor results have been linked to weakened democratic checks and balances, increasing politicisation of judiciaries, gaps in key legislation - such as the weakening of the EU’s Anti‑Corruption Directive -and reduced enforcement efforts, including the scaling back of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

The UK’s performance

We’ve covered the UK’s performance previously, with a significant fall (-5) in 2022, a subsequent decline (-2) in 2023 and stagnation in 2024 at the UK’s worst ever score of 71/100. 

Although we had hoped to see the beginning of a recovery for the UK this year,  2025 has seen a further decline (-1), with the UK now ranked 20^th. According to TI, this is because despite commitments to restore integrity in politics, the 2024 General Election saw parties spend ‘record amounts on election campaigning, supercharging a reliance on wealthy backers’. With persistent scandals over donations, lobbying and access to decision-makers, TI argues that ‘business as usual is not enough to turn the corner, with corruption concerns risking becoming the ‘new normal’’. 

However, the updated Anti‑Corruption Strategy, launched in December 2025, provides a chance to break this cycle. With the right support, it has the potential to help the UK change direction and begin reclaiming a leadership role in global anti‑corruption efforts.

How the private sector can help

While the CPI focuses on perceived levels of public sector corruption, the report also underscores the role financial institutions play in enabling the movement of illicit funds - reinforcing that the private sector, too, has more to do in the fight against corruption.

• As a first step, institutions operating in what TI describes as ‘weakly regulated’ environments should review and strengthen their procedures for public official detection and transaction controls. Enhancing these measures will enable organisations to make tangible progress in uncovering and preventing high-level corruption.
• Then, TI reiterates throughout the report that creating an environment which protects whistleblowers is key to detecting and deterring corruption on a global scale. In response, organisations can review their own whistleblowing procedures to ensure all stakeholders have access to effective, secure and anonymised reporting channels.
• Finally, with a strong focus on the need for transparency, financial institutions may face increased pressure to improve economic crime intelligence sharing to bolster cross-border detection and enforcement efforts. The private sector may begin to look at what more it can do in this space to create an intelligence-led, collaborative response to corruption. 

What happens next

Whilst 2025 did not bring the global anti-corruption outlook we were all hoping for, there are still opportunities to change the narrative. Corruption remains a hot topic for leaders globally, and these scores may encourage an increased focus from Government that both the public and private sector need to be prepared for.