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Financial crime costing the UK economy £52bn

adamlewis
Written By:
adamlewis
Posted:
Updated:
01/02/2016

Financial crime is costing the UK economy an estimated £52bn, yet only 12% of cybercrime is ever actually reported according to the City of London Police.

Speaking at the Wealth Management Association’s financial crime conference, special inspector James Phipson, commercial director of the Economic Crime Directorate at the City of London Police, said as the UK is considered the financial capital of Europe, it makes an appealing target for fraudsters and that decision makers need to be more alert to the seriousness of the threat.

Indeed he said even though in 2015 police forces across the country spent 34% more time than previously investigating fraud, they were still only inspecting a small number of the total estimate.

He revealed that surprisingly most fraud attacks are likely to come from Spain, which indicated that more understanding of the threat to the economy is required.

Liz Field, chief executive of the WMA, said: “Financial crime is a huge threat, not only to the wealth management industry, but to the UK economy as a whole.

“Cooperation between the financial services industry and the authorities is crucial to combatting this crime, so I hope many more institutions will do their upmost to work together against this shared adversary.”

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