NatWest in court for money laundering failures suggests aggressive approach from FCA

26 May 2021

John Dobson, CEO at anti-money laundering experts, SmartSearch, comments:

“To have a bank the size of NatWest facing criminal proceedings in a British court is unprecedented and suggests a much more aggressive approach by the FCA in dealing with those who fail to properly prevent fraud.

“At the moment 99 percent of all ill-gotten gains are successfully laundered by criminals, and banks need to do much more to prevent this. Whether through naivety or lack of attention to detail, there have been too many gaps in security allowing activity to go undetected.

“Change has to come from the top down and I’m sure whatever happens as a result of this case will instigate significant change within NatWest’s processes. Banks need to be much more proactive in doing away with outdated systems and methods of ID verification, and invest in technology that is fit for purpose.

“The tech has long been available to quickly and efficiently verify customers and prevent this type of activity, banks just need to adopt it. Without disrupting the customers’ experience, this software will flag the cases that need further attention and save the banks time and effort.

“Banks can get set-up quickly and easily, so there is no excuse for them not to shore-up their anti-money laundering defences.”