Report on The Institute Meeting: September 2022

On a day which ultimately turned out to be even more memorable than expected, Members of The Institute met at Womble Bond Dickinson (UK) LLP on the 8th September to welcome 5 very different, but equally insightful, speakers each bringing their perspectives from distinctive roles and positions within the financial crime community.

Emma Radmore's thorough and detailed overview of recent developments and the direction of travel in the regulatory landscape proved to be an excellent way to set the context for the rest of the day. Special thanks go to her and the team at Womble Bond Dickinson (UK) LLP for their time and generosity in hosting us so well and helping everything go so smoothly on the day.

Kathryn Westmore, whose role at the Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies (CFCS) at RUSI includes liaison with the UK House of Lords Fraud Act 2006 and Digital #Fraud Committee, painted a sobering picture of the huge increase in scams over recent years - earning the UK a global reputation as a hotbed of fraud, even as less than 1% of policing resources are devoted to it. The Royal United Services Institute highlights a so-called 'responsibility vacuum' in which accountability is so broadly distributed across the public and private sectors that effective action is stymied by poor coordination.

After a fine sandwich lunch in view of The Thames and Tower Bridge, we were delighted to welcome Dan McCrum, Investigative Journalist at the Financial Times and author of 'Money Men: A Hot Startup, A Billion Dollar Fraud, A Fight for the Truth' - which tells the thrilling story of the rise and fall of Wirecard, the German payments behemoth which over many years succeeded in duping investors and regulators around the world. 'Thrilling' is definitely the word for Dan's story and you can get hold of a copy of his book here: https://amzn.to/3AVQh5a

In our 4th session of the day it was a real pleasure to welcome DS Alec Wood from Kent Police, who took us behind-the-scenes at the Commercial and Complex Fraud Team in the Serious Economic Unit, to find out what happens to the Suspicious Activity Reports that our Members are submitting on a regular basis. Serious and alarming as some of these cases may be, it was great to get a view into how the intelligence provided in #SARs is put to real, practical use.

Finally, in a fascinating and thought-provoking talk which brought some refreshing behavioural insights to the whole area of Anti-Corruption and #Bribery policy-making and compliance, Mario Menz, PhD shared his research which provides a fascinating sideways view of much established thinking and received wisdom as it is broadly applied.

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