Companies House crackdown: 11,500 firms struck off July 17, 2025 Over 11,000 UK firms have been struck off the Companies House register over the past year following a coordinated crackdown on corporate structures suspected of facilitating fraud, money laundering and other economic crime. The operation, led by the National Economic Crime Centre and supported by the National Crime Agency, Companies House, HMRC, and several UK [...]
Financial services firms dealt tens of millions in regulatory fines July 17, 2025 While deregulation may be the political mood, UK watchdogs are sharpening their swords as banking giants bleed millions in regulatory fines. In under just ten days, the Financial Conduct Authority and Bank of England handed out £74.9m worth of fines to a trio of UK financial services firms. Leading the pack, and most recently, was [...]
Barclays battles to take down scam impersonation website July 16, 2025 Barclays has battled to take down a scam impersonation website that could have stolen millions from its customers. The website, which called itself “Barclays Finance”, featured the Barclays logo and included “Barclays” in its domain name, was identified by City AM on Monday and claimed to be able to process money transfer payments on behalf [...]
Companies House reforms: 1 in 5 firms shift addresses July 16, 2025 More than one in five UK companies changed their registered address between January 2022 and February 2025, highlighting the extent of internal corporate changes taking place ahead of major Companies House reforms. Moody’s data, shared exclusively with City AM, also found that nearly 14 per cent of companies changed legal status during the same period. [...]
Barclays slapped with £42m fine for financial crime failings July 16, 2025 Barclays has been hit with a £42m fine by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for separate instances where the bank failed in its financial crime risk management. The City watchdog blasted Barclays for failing to check it had gathered “sufficient information to understand the money laundering risk” before it opened a client money account for [...]
Scammers target struggling grads and school leavers amid jobs slump July 15, 2025 Young people applying for their first jobs are being confronted a double threat: a shrinking pool of entry level roles, as well as a surge in sophisticated job scams on social media. With graduate job postings down by a third year on year, fraudsters are exploiting the desperation of university graduates and school leavers by [...]
Digital illusion: How the UK’s paper-based processes fuel cyber attacks July 9, 2025 Thousands of UK SMEs are operating with outdated, paper-based verification processes that expose them to cyber attacks, fraud, hinder growth, and erode confidence. A new report from regtech firm Umazi called for an urgent overhaul of the UK’s corporate identity infrastructure, warning that legacy verification systems have become a weak link in Britain’s digital economy. [...]
Fraud is the UK’s biggest economic threat July 7, 2025 Of all the economic threats we must confront, none is so widespread as fraud, which is why the City of London is taking action.
Standard Chartered slapped with $2.7bn lawsuit over fraud scandal July 1, 2025 Standard Chartered has been hit with a $2.7bn lawsuit over its alleged role in one of the world’s largest financial fraud cases, known as the 1MBD scandal. The London-headquartered lender is being accused of helping move and hide billions of dollars that were stolen from Malaysia’s 1MDB fund, by not sufficiently checking to see where [...]
Fraud litigation surges in UK as businesses fight back June 23, 2025 The number of fraud claims issued to the High Court has increased as 'fraud in society' has surged, forcing British businesses to fight back