Agents in the frame as fraud compliance measures beefed up

Corrupt elites and criminal gangs who abuse the property and financial sectors will be identified and stripped of their cash, the government claims. 

Its Economic Crime Plan 2 pledges an improved response to economic crime through enhanced cooperation between government, law enforcement, supervisory agencies and private sector players such as lettings and estate agents.

There will be 475 “new highly trained financial crime investigators” to detect and disrupt money laundering, and to recover a target of an additional £1 billion in criminal assets over the next 10 years.

There will be an expansion of the National Crime Agency’s Combatting Kleptocracy Cell to target more corrupt elites and their enablers, plus an additional £100m in technology and data analytics. 

Home Secretary Suella Braverman says: “Economic crime undermines the integrity of our financial system and weakens our national security. Through robust legislation and a strengthened law enforcement response, we’ve come a long way in cracking down on dirty money, but this plan helps us go further.

“Backed by our partnership with the private sector, we have the resources and expertise we need to identify criminal networks and confiscate the proceeds of their illicit activities.

“Cooperation with the private sector is critical to the plan’s success, which is why we will develop a new approach to public-private prioritisation, which will maximise our collective intelligence and resource to detect and disrupt economic crime.

“The UK’s supervisory regime will be strengthened, with increased information sharing between partners, and greater government oversight to ensure effectiveness and compliance with Money Laundering Regulations.”

Bob Wigley, chair of mortgage lending trade body UK Finance, adds: “Tackling economic crime is a key priority for the banking and finance industry and we welcome the launch of the Second Economic Crime Plan.

“Partnerships between the private sector, law enforcement, regulators and government are vitally important. Through this new plan we will continue to work together to ensure our collective system more effectively combats all forms of economic crime.”