FCA publishes REP-CRIM data

The FCA recently published its analysis of over 5,000 REP-CRIM submissions between 2017-2020. Money Laundering Reporting Officers (MLROs) and other FinCrime professionals take note of the following key themes:

• 480,000 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) were reported in the year 19/20. Note the discrepancy between this reported figure and the 570,000 the National Crime Agency (NCA) itself reported for the same period.
• Close to half of the 1,028,260 SARs reported internally to MLROs are from 3 firms and the same firms are also contributing to over 60% of the SARs reported to the NCA.
• Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) reports decreased to 89,000 YoY from 111,000 in 2017/18
• 17,000 FTE financial crime staff were employed in the year 2019/20
• The FCA estimates that £65,319 is the annual per FTE in FinCrime roles
• Customers exited more than doubled to 761,437 in 2019/20, with retail lending and banking exiting the most customers

• Cybercrime (such as computer hacking and phishing), account takeover and card fraud were highly cited fraud threats
• Automated sanctions screening increased by 16.5% over three years 

What next?

MLROs and other FinCrime professionals should keep abreast of trends and regulatory changes. The FCA’s REP-CRIM analysis provides invaluable insight into how other firms are dealing with FinCrime matters. 

Should your firm require a financial crime audit or you would like some guidance as to how to improve your current controls, get in touch with us today.