Check against delivery

Good morning and thank you for attending today’s Economic Crime Congress. We have already heard from Lord Hanson and have enjoyed two excellent sessions involving Marcus Wogart, Rachel Herbert, James Babbage, Mike Regnier, Michelle Haslem and Tracy Paradise. I should like to thank them all for giving up their time to be here and for making a great contribution to today’s events.

I should also like to thank our main sponsor Lexis Nexis Risk Solutions and Steve Elliott for his comments earlier.

The fight against Economic Crime is a team effort across industry, government, regulators, the media, civil society, and law enforcement.

It is great to see so many parts of that team in the room today.

Our industry invests a huge amount in protecting the public from Economic Crime in all its forms. Protecting our customers has always been one of our highest priorities, and it always will be.

UK Finance undertakes a very broad range of Economic Crime work, across anti-money laundering, anti-corruption, sanctions, intelligence, and fraud. We work in close partnership with our members, and many other partners, to protect the public, our society and our economy from the various harms caused by Economic Crime.

Together, we have made major progress in some key areas over the past twelve months.

We estimate that our members spend £38 billion on compliance each year. So, we strongly welcomed the Treasury’s commitment to make changes to the Money Laundering Regulations. These regulations are the largest driver of that spend.

We approach advocacy by using data and building strong arguments.  After many years of sustained, evidence-based engagement with the Treasury, we have managed to bring about greater use of Customer Due Diligence obligations, as well as a commitment to introducing clearer guidance for use of digital identification and verification.

An example of the government’s commitment to improve how we fight crime is the recent increase in threshold for reporting Suspicious Activity Reports.

This will allow firms to focus their efforts on higher value activity and will really help us all tackle crime much more effectively.

However, we continue to see new burdens placed on banks, such as the Public Authorities Fraud, Error, and Recovery Act. Whilst the intention behind the Act may be understandable, it introduces more complexity and work.

Using banks to police fraud and error in the benefits system is a matter for public debate, but what is certain is that it distracts from the industry’s work to tackle the big issue of serious organised crime.

A risk-based approach to economic crime prevention is entirely consistent with the Chancellor’s Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy.

When Labour took up office in 2024, we shared our views on how a more balanced approach to risk would allow the sector to refocus on key activities, including innovation and growth, for the benefit of UK consumers and businesses. It has also the added benefit of protecting the UK’s reputation as a global financial centre.

We seek a system that is focused on the largest risks and threats, rebalancing the industry’s annual compliance spend towards high-impact activity. Supporting a properly resourced public sector with the intelligence, tools and capabilities needed to deal with criminals and terrorists.

This is why we have welcomed the ambitious developments from the government this year, which help bring us closer to a more effective approach to financial crime for the wider sector.

It has been another exceptionally busy year for sanctions, with an increasing volume, and pace, of change across regimes.

There are currently 3,750 individuals, 968 entities, and 15 ships on the consolidated sanctions list.

UK Finance has been at the forefront in supporting our members navigate this landscape, providing guidance, analysis, and a platform for collaboration. In the last year OFSI focused on enhancing compliance, capability, and enforcement to uphold the effectiveness of UK financial sanctions.

The impact of this work is demonstrated by the £37 billion worth of assets reported as frozen to OFSI, a significant increase from £24.4 billion in the previous financial year.

I should like to thank all members for their active participation in our sanctions panel and working groups. Your expertise and engagement have been vital in shaping and delivering the UK’s sanctions implementation agenda.

Key focus areas for 2026 will include tackling sanctions evasion, strengthening controls around crypto assets, and ensuring firms have the tools and confidence to implement measures effectively and responsibly.

The pace of changes with regards to payments, coupled with the increased threats posed by fraudsters leads to a fast paced environment in the fraud arena.

UK Finance continues to bring members together to choose the path for a single future-facing APP and data management solution.

The Banking Protocol initiative, which links branch staff with police to protect vulnerable customers, has prevented over £400 million being stolen since inception.

The Intelligence Unit continues to engage with members to enhance intelligence sharing with average monthly submissions on our intelligence sharing platform at the highest level it has ever been. An increase of 20% compared to this time last year, with members sharing over 700,000 records. In addition, working with key partners, the Intelligence Unit has identified nearly 2 million compromised cards to members so far this year.

The industry funded Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU), has prevented over £75 million from being stolen this year, charged 86 people and disrupted 120 Organised Crime Gangs. This is a record number.

Through our multi-award winning Take Five to Stop Fraud campaign, we have equipped millions of individuals with clear, actionable advice to help them recognise and resist fraudulent attempts. Our educational materials, interactive resources, and public outreach initiatives have helped people to spot scams and make informed decisions, significantly reducing their vulnerability to fraud.

Over the last year we've teamed up with organisations ranging from the National Allotment Society to the BBC and beyond to bring fraud prevention into people's daily lives.

By encouraging the public to "Take Five to Stop, Challenge and Protect” we have seen continued strength in the public’s ability to enact fraud prevention behaviours. With over 72% reporting they’ve taken protective action in the last six months.

We have also seen record high campaign recognition ,with over 56% of people saying they recognise Take Five activity.

So, as you can see the industry is spending billions on this issue. But let me talk about the wider subject of fraud for a moment.

Fraud accounts for over 40% of all reported crime in the UK, making it the most common crime in the country and yet, it remains significantly underreported.

The financial services industry invests more than any other sector in fighting fraud. Indeed more than all other sectors combined!

Criminals stole £629.3 million in the first half of 2025, a 3% increase on the same period in 2024.

There were over 2 million confirmed cases of fraud, a 17% increase on this time last year.  The UK should be ashamed of these numbers, much of which is preventable.

Banks are the last part of the chain and simply make the payment. Through sustained investment in technology, and human effort, banks prevented £870 million of unauthorized fraud. This is 20% more than in the equivalent period last year. This is the equivalent to prevention of 70p in every £1 in attempted fraud.

But that is like asking your goalkeeper to save every shot because your outfield players are asleep. It is frankly miraculous that we do this so well.

66% of APP fraud cases started online and 17% started through telecommunications networks. This is where prevention should be happening. At scale with real, genuine investment and not the lip service that some large tech companies give the issue.

We have a great relationship with the government but on this subject they just refuse to grasp the nettle. I can’t verify the comments made in a recent Reuters article on the subject of fraud and a major tech company, but if there is truth in it then surely the government have to act?!

If it is true that a large tech company knowingly turns a blind eye to and garners billions in income from fraudulent adverts is this not an issue of national security? Especially when one considers where the proceeds of this theft ends up. Rogue states who use the cash to further damage our society.

Fraud used to be seen as a victimless crime. But it really isn’t. It is anything but.  It destroys lives, costs innocent customers money and funds organized crime and enemies of the state.

The government’s upcoming Fraud Strategy simply must ensure all sectors are accountable in preventing fraud. Tech companies and the subject of the Reuters article in particular, need to feel real sustained pressure. This cannot remain simply something we would like to see because it is fair. It must be something we fight for because it is at the heart of the national security debate and because it is the right thing to do.

Mandatory reimbursement has achieved circa 90% repayment rates but, so what?

It does nothing to deal with the root cause. All it does is redistribute funds between customers. The proceeds still go to the bad guys!

I call on the Home Secretary to grasp this issue and make sure that the new strategy prioritises prevention, cross-sector collaboration, and law enforcement to counter evolving tactics. We have to reduce victim numbers, and protect the UK’s reputation as well as its economic growth. This needs to be done by forcing the tech giants to behave well, and put their enormous financial might to bear. They have the capability and resources to staunch this gaping wound. A wound they are profiting from.

The financial services industry will continue to play its part. It is now time that large tech companies face the music, are brought to book and help make the market place safer for their customers!