Financial

COVID-19 has rapidly accelerated digitisation of the customer experience, particularly with respect to how consumers shop, pay and bank. The shift to digital channels has been an important lifeline for many consumers, providing access to essential products and services during a time when physical contact must be significantly reduced or eliminated.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has established a Temporary Registration Regime to allow existing cryptoasset firms, who have applied to be registered with the FCA, to continue trading.

Fraudsters could make off with over £400m ($533m) of UK taxpayer money stolen through COVID-19 support loans.

The Security Industry Authority (SIA) suspended more than 130 SIA licences in November as an ongoing criminal investigation revealed that some licence-holders may not have been awarded their qualifications legitimately.

LONDON (Reuters) - The rate of fraud for state-backed loans to small companies in the COVID-19 pandemic is about five times normal levels, a senior Lloyds bank executive said on Monday.

There is a difference between many law firms’ anti-money laundering (AML) policies and procedures, and what actually happens in practice, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has found.

https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/reality-of-law-firms-approach-to-aml-not-living-up-to-their-policies

Sophisticated fraudsters have ratcheted up their operations to target retail investors, as incidents of large-scale investment scams nearly quadrupled since July, new data published today by the Investment Association reveals.

https://www.theia.org/media/press-releases/almost-ps10m-lost-investment-scams-march-lockdown#.X8P8drShBgc.twitter

John Christmas, an ex Latvian banker living in exile, has been trying to expose ‘the largest fraud you've never heard of” for over a decade now. Yet, despite being able to show clear evidence that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is linked to historically fraudulent transactions, Christmas has been ignored by major media outlets, writes Stephen Komarnyckyj.

https://eutoday.net/news/business-economy/2020/a-christmas-tale-a-key-witness-to-how-the-ebrd-failed-to-tackle-corruption-speaks-out

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has written to firms running price comparison websites (PCWs) to outline the drivers of harm in the sector and its supervisory strategy.

https://www.pinsentmasons.com/out-law/news/fca-turns-focus-on-price-comparison-websites

When the Royal British Bank fell on hard times, founder John MacGregor started falsifying the accounts and paying dividends out of capital. The bank finally collapsed with liabilities of £539,131