{"id":601521,"date":"2026-05-24T14:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T14:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/601521\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T14:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T14:28:09","slug":"at-least-325bn-of-dirty-money-flows-through-uk-each-year-says-report-financial-sector","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/601521\/","title":{"rendered":"At least \u00a3325bn of \u2018dirty money\u2019 flows through UK each year, says report | Financial sector"},"content":{"rendered":"

At least \u00a3325bn worth of dirty money is flowing through the UK every year, according to research that is causing concern about funding for state investigators and the government\u2019s push into crypto assets.<\/a><\/p>\n

The figure is equivalent to more than 10% of UK GDP and includes illicit funds linked to financial crime, money laundering, corruption, illegal trade and tax dodging, according to the report by the Finance Innovation Lab charity.<\/p>\n

Including the UK\u2019s crown dependencies and overseas territories, such as Jersey and the Cayman Islands, the figure jumps to more than \u00a3788bn annually.<\/p>\n

The research is believed to be the first comprehensive attempt to quantify the scale of illicit finance flows linked to the UK, with cross-border data on tax evasion and financial crime revealing the extent of the UK\u2019s international role as a hub for dirty money from across the world.<\/p>\n

The figures were released as the UK postponed the Illicit Finance Summit<\/a>, originally due to take place on 23-24 June, to December<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Finance Innovation Lab urged Labour ministers to \u201cdemonstrate leadership\u201d by confronting the UK\u2019s role in enabling economic crime and tax evasion.<\/p>\n

One of the report\u2019s authors, Jesse Griffiths said: \u201cRachel Reeves has described the UK\u2019s financial sector as the \u2018crown jewel\u2019 of the economy. Our report shows that, all too often, it is in fact playing a central role in supporting illicit financial flows: harming our economy, taking money from our public services, and supporting crime. Understanding the true scale of this is an essential first step toward ensuring the financial system works for society, not against it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on Anti-Corruption and Responsible Tax is backing the Finance Innovation Lab\u2019s calls for government action, including a rise in funding for state investigators including the National Crime<\/a> Agency and Serious Fraud Office, which they said would probably pay for itself through higher fines and asset seizures.<\/p>\n

The Lab is also calling for a \u201cpause\u201d on ministers\u2019 plans to make London an international crypto hub, a plan influenced in part by the Trump administration\u2019s exuberant promotion of alternative digital assets<\/a>. That is despite crypto assets increasingly being linked to money laundering and hidden market dealings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe UK\u2019s global role as a financial hub brings economic benefits, but also attracts criminal, corrupt and tax abusive activity that undermines national integrity, distorts markets and erodes public trust,\u201d the report said. \u201cGovernment plans to make the City a global hub for crypto assets risk exacerbating this.\u201d<\/p>\n

It added that a crackdown on UK-linked tax havens was key, requiring full transparency over the real owners of shell companies in overseas territories, including the British Virgin Islands.<\/p>\n

Phil Brickell, the Labour chair of the APPG, said: \u201cAfter years of inaction from previous governments it is time for us to become part of the solution, not part of the problem. It\u2019s time to give our enforcement agencies the resources they need to crack down on the scourge of economic crime, and for key UK overseas territories to finally lift their veil of corporate secrecy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Treasury was approached for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At least \u00a3325bn worth of dirty money is flowing through the UK every year, according to research that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601522,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-601521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}