Banks call for more support on fraud prevention

More needs to be done to fight fraud and defeat money laundering, the British Bankers' Association said today on the second day of its crime prevention conference.

Finance professionals gathered today to learn the latest techniques to counter the fraud and money laundering which finances much of the world’s organised crime. But to mount an effective attack on criminals the banks need support from the Home Office to put financial crime at the top of the agenda.

BBA Chief Executive Angela Knight said: “We are not crime fighters but we do fight crime – regularly and effectively. By cutting off the funding of organised crime by stopping large-scale frauds and money laundering schemes, we prevent major crimes at the very first stages of their development. Yet financial crime does not feature in the list of priorities the police has been given by the Home Office. We now need more support to be more effective and we urgently need the Government to make fraud and financial crime a priority for law enforcement.”