On this day: The collapse of Barings Bank Opinion On 26 February 1995, 31 years ago today, Baring Bank, one of the City’s most venerable institutions, was declared insolvent after a massive fraud by one of its employees, Nick Leeson, recalls Eliot Wilson In the 1990s, following the wake of Big Bang and the influx of brash but wealthy, “Greed is good, greed is [...]
Gucci to Zara: Brands ramp up fight against domain ‘squatting’ Legal Global legal disputes over ‘squatted’ web addresses rose to 6,282 cases last year as big companies, especially fashion brands, are fighting back against counterfeit goods. According to data by Mathys & Squire shared with City AM, disputes over web addresses are up 49 per cent in five years (from 4,204) and 128 per cent in [...]
AI-enhanced deception: The audit industry’s next big test Accountancy The audit industry has been under the microscope over the past few years following a number of high-profile corporate collapses, prompting stricter measures to restore public trust. And with the rise of AI-driven fraud, auditors will be under more pressure than ever to adapt to an evolving risk environment. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC), the [...]
‘Downfall’: Home REIT faces SFO probe into suspected bribery and fraud January 14, 2026 The UK’s top financial crime unit has unveiled a major probe into the past management of Home REIT after identifying as much as £300m in suspected fraud and bribery. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said it has carried out raids and arrests into the former London-listed social housing company, including searches at homes in Altrincham, [...]
City watchdog fines ex-Carillion finance chiefs for market manipulation January 7, 2026 The City watchdog has fined the former finance directors of collapsed construction firm Carillion for their role in making “misleading” statements from the company. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said both Richard Adam and Zafar Khan were aware of “serious financial troubles” in Carillion’s UK business but failed to reflect this in company announcements. Adam [...]
Nationwide hit with fine after failing to flag Covid furlough fraud December 12, 2025 Nationwide had been slapped with a £44m fine by the City watchdog for failures in its financial crime controls. The building society giant has been blasted by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for missing opportunities to identify fraudulent Covid furlough payments. The FCA said one customer received 24 payments, totalling north of £27m, over 13 [...]
Why your mobile phone is now more valuable than your passport December 8, 2025 Partner content, in association with NOTO. A £6 trillion global financial cybercrime epidemic is being fought with technology that in some cases predates the smartphone, leaving financial institutions and consumers exposed, an expert has warned. Chris Thomas, Chief Revenue Officer at NOTO, a company providing next generation technology to combat financial crime, highlighted that the [...]
UK Finance warns tech giants to step up in Britain’s fraud fight December 6, 2025 UK Finance has delivered its most forceful warning yet to the world’s biggest tech platforms, with chief executive David Postings calling on Silicon Valley to “grasp the scale of the crisis” and do far more to stop fraud spreading across their networks. Speaking at the Economic Crime Congress 2025, Postings said the UK is now [...]
Relief for Cirata after FCA closes investigation November 27, 2025 Cirata execs have breathed a sigh of relief after the financial regulator closed a two-year investigation into the software firm, drawing a line under the dramatic events that caused the firm’s stock to plummet. In March 2023, Cirata – or Wandisco, as it was then known – revealed it had massively overstated its sales figures, [...]
How the Square Mile is taking the fight to the fraudsters November 19, 2025 Fraud has towered over our economy for too long and has reached the highest levels since first measured in the crime survey for England and Wales. This deceitful crime now represents 44 per cent of all offences or 4.1 million incidents, with more than £1 billion lost to fraud last year alone. Behind those numbers [...]