New Economic Crime Plan set to crack down on ‘dirty money’ in UK

The UK is set to continue its crackdown on “dirty money” with the announcement of a new Economic Crime Plan.

The Economic Crime Plan is set to prevent criminals from hiding their ill-gotten gains from illicit crypto activities. It has already been agreed upon by Chancellor Philip Hammond, Home Secretary Sajid Javid, and the heads of law enforcement and major financial institutions.

The announcement was made by the HM Treasury and Home Office. The plan sets out actions to help better tackle the ever-growing issue of dirty money in the UK, bringing together the public and private sectors “in closer cooperation than ever before” with improved levels of data sharing, resource pooling, and technological innovation.

It is believed that this new plan will help combat against illicit activities both at home and overseas. It draws numerous actions to overhaul the approach to tackling economic crime, including:

• A boost to law enforcement capability with £48 million of previously announced funding to continue to build the National Economic Crime Centre and help the National Crime Agency to better utilise data to proactively target fraudsters and those laundering dirty money.
• Reform of the Suspicious Activity Reporting regime with Barclays, HSBC UK, Lloyds Banking Group, RBS, and Santander UK investing £6.5 million in 2019/2020, in addition to the £3.5 million committed by the Home Office this year.
• Establishing a new crypto assets regime with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) going beyond international standards to create one of the most comprehensive global responses to the use of crypto assets in illicit activity.
• Promoting innovation in the private sector and encouraging businesses to take advantage of pioneering technologies to combat economic crime, as well as reduce their compliance costs.
• Implementing the new Asset Recovery Action Plan, setting out a range of measures designed to enhance efforts to claw back the proceeds of crime, including those held abroad.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, said: “The UK has one of the toughest systems for combating money laundering, but too many people are still falling victim to fraud. This crime fuels everything from drug dealing to modern slavery, fundamentally undermining people’s faith in our financial system and impacting economic growth.

“By bringing together leaders from across government, law enforcement, and business, we can better tackle the scourge of dirty money, and ensure the UK continues to be one of the safest places in the world to invest and do business.”

Interested in hearing more about the UK’s crackdown on crypto-related activities? Discover more about the UK’s watchdog, the FCA, and whether it will be banning UK traders from BitMEX.