With technology evolving at a rapid pace, an ever changing geopolitical and macro-economic environment, and evolving regulatory requirements, it is essential that firms are aware of the key risks posed by financial crime.
Preventing, detecting and managing financial crime risks is a continuous and challenging process faced by firms across all sectors. Companies must ensure that they have structures, policies, procedures and controls in place to comply with various regulations. Not only that, they also must carry out regular testing and monitoring to ensure that the protections put in place remain fit for purpose when up against criminals and wrongdoers that are becoming more sophisticated in their methods.
Our Financial Crime Team covers all aspects of financial crime risk management and compliance. We help clients adopt a risk-based and regulatory compliant approach to tackling financial crime and enable them to deploy their resources efficiently.
How we can help
We help clients protect themselves from the financial, operational and reputational damage of money laundering, sanctions, fraud, bribery, corruption and other financial crime and comply with, often complex, national and international legislation. We also support responses to regulatory enquiries, including acting as a Skilled Person (s166), performing assessments of financial crime frameworks (including systems and controls), and designing and delivering regulatory change and remediation programmes.
Our team have a detailed understanding of applicable financial crime regulations, guidance and expected practice in both the UK and overseas. Our global structure enables us to work seamlessly alongside our global Financial Crime Teams, utilising local specialists where necessary.
Our solutions for financial crime risk management and compliance support the adoption of an effective financial crime framework and include:
Regulatory-mandated reviews including Skilled Person Reviews (s166).
Sanctions compliance reviews and look back investigations.
Independent assessment of financial crime frameworks (policies, procedures, controls), including gap analysis and recommendations to address deficiencies.
Preparation for regulatory visits (SAMLP/PAMLP), including MLRO interviews.
Financial Crime Business Wide Risk Assessment (BWRA) design and delivery.
Customer Risk Assessment model design, testing and implementation.
Operational effectiveness testing of financial crime controls.
Financial Crime compliance and remediation programme design, delivery and assurance.
Financial Crime target operating model assessment and redesign.
Financial Crime Training design, delivery and assessment.
Investigations into regulatory breaches, including misconduct.
Our experience
Our financial crime risk specialists have diverse backgrounds, experience and skills coming from industry, public service, legal, regulatory bodies, law enforcement, audit and accounting, tax and management consultancy and have dedicated their career to combating financial crime and wrongdoing.
Our specialists have brought all this knowledge and experience together to provide a holistic approach to financial crime risk management and regulatory compliance. Within the team, our sector experts work with our clients to strengthen their firm-wide approach.
Get in touch
If you would like to speak with a member of our Financial Crime team, please contact us today.
Financial crime can be defined in different ways. In the context of the services we provide, financial crime typically includes any criminal conduct related to money, financial services or markets, as well as reportable or criminal misconduct of a non-financial nature.
What are the key financial crime risk areas to be aware of?
Financial crime poses significant risks to businesses. Here are some key areas that businesses should be aware of:
Money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing
Sanctions breaches
Bribery & Corruption
Fraud
Tax evasion
Cyber & data protection
Insider dealing & market abuse
By implementing effective controls that both prioritise risk areas as well as comply with evolving regulations, businesses can enhance their performance and pursue profit responsibly for the benefit of their stakeholders and wider society.
What sectors are most affected by financial crime?
Financial crime can have significant impact on various sectors. However, there are some that are more vulnerable than others, including:
In our latest financial crime regulatory update, we focus on the commitments outlined by the FCA in their latest business plan and upcoming regulatory changes concerning authorised push payment (APP) fraud, as well as a roundup of other regulatory developments.
The UK Government has recently announced a new corporate criminal offence – the 'failure to prevent fraud' offence – within the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023.
