Icon cutting crime
Financial crime robs people and businesses of their hard-earned money. It seeks to hide the profits made from serious offences. It reduces the amount of money available to invest and grow businesses and makes our markets less attractive.
We prioritised fighting financial crime in our last strategy and have strengthened our contribution to the collective effort.
We set out our outcomes and metrics for this theme below.
| Outcome | Metric description | Source | Baseline value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slowed growth in investment fraud* | Continue to slow the growth in investment fraud victims and losses | National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) | 20247.6% reduction in victims 5.1% growth in losses In 2024 compared to 2023 |
| Slowed growth in Authorised push payment (APP) fraud | Continue to slow the growth in APP fraud cases and losses | UK Finance | 202420% reduction in cases |
| Protect market integrity | Increase in cleanliness of UK markets through the FCA’s 3 market cleanliness statistics | FCA | 2024Market cleanliness – 37.8% Abnormal Trading Volume – 5.6% Potentially Anomalous Trading Ratio – 4.1% Baseline to be updated when 2025 values are available |
| Tackle money laundering through the financial system | FCA | There is no current measure for the total amount of money laundering in the UK. However, we track metrics on our AML supervisory activities as part of annual Treasury reporting[2] |
Why we have chosen these metrics and limitations
We use metrics from the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) and UK Finance to monitor the volume and value of investment and APP fraud in the UK. We want to see a slowdown in growth of these types of fraud as these are high harm frauds. A whole system approach involving law enforcement, government and cross-sector partners is needed to achieve this as sociological, economic, political and technological factors also impact the metric.
These data sources track reported fraud. Whilst it is estimated that only 13% of all fraud incidents are reported[3], and therefore metrics are sensitive to changes in levels of reporting, they provide a good picture of the trajectory of fraud. They also allow for deeper analysis of the sources of fraud and age demographic of victims.
We use 3 statistics to track the cleanliness of the markets:
(1) our new market cleanliness statistic, which captures instances where a takeover offer announcement causes positive abnormal price movements in the 2 days preceding the news
(2) Abnormal Trading Volume (ATV), which tracks abnormal increases in trading volume ahead of potentially price sensitive announcements
(3) Potentially Anomalous Trading Ratio (PATR), which tracks potentially anomalous trading that occurs ahead of price sensitive news announcement
These metrics need to be looked at in the round as factors unrelated to market abuse can affect market behaviour. Price movements before takeover announcements that appear abnormal may simply reflect market conditions. Other factors can also influence price movements before takeover announcements, such as financial analysts or the media correctly assessing likely takeover targets or significant legitimate trades that occur before an announcement.
There is no current measure for the total amount of money laundering in the UK, however we track metrics on our anti-money laundering (AML) supervisory activities as part of annual Treasury reporting[2].
Historical values
Graph 1a
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The historic trend in the number of investment fraud victims is upwards, but has slowed and has recently reduced. However, absolute numbers remain high.
The recent Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) shows that fraud in general increased by 19% between September 2023 and September 2024. However, there is no investment fraud or APP fraud category specifically in the CSEW data so we cannot draw a direct comparison. It does appear that fraud in general is on the rise again and we will aim to play our role in slowing this growth. Crime in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics[4]
Graph 1b
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Historic loss data is not available pre-2020 due to the implementation of a new reporting system by NFIB in 2019.
Losses have increased in 2024. It is unclear if these trends will continue but the volatility of the pandemic years appears to have smoothed out.
The recent Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) shows that fraud in general increased by 19% between September 2023 and September 2024. However, there is no investment fraud or APP fraud category specifically in the CSEW data, so we cannot draw a direct comparison. It does appear that fraud in general is on the rise again, and we will aim to play our role in slowing this growth Crime in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics[5].
Graph 2a
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APP fraud cases have continued upwards as fraudsters continue to use sophisticated social engineering methods and target ‘new to digital’ customers. In 2023 case numbers were up in comparison to 2022. We may see rates go up further as victims more willingly report to banks under the mandatory reimbursement scheme.
Graph 2b
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In 2023, whilst case numbers were up in comparison to 2022, losses have reduced. We may see rates go up further as victims more willingly report to banks under the mandatory reimbursement scheme.
Graph 3a
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The market cleanliness statistic for 2023 was 30.3% which is a decrease of 5 percentage points from 2022. The metric measures the percentage of takeover offer announcements preceded by positive, abnormal price movements.
Graph 3b
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The ATV measure looks for abnormal increases in trading volumes ahead of potentially price sensitive announcements, covering equity instruments and some equity derivatives. For 2024 the ATV measure was 5.6% which was the same as the year before.
Graph 3c
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The PATR measure looks at potentially anomalous trading that occurs ahead of price sensitive news announcement. The PATR for 2024 was 4.1% representing an increase of 0.8 percentage points compared to 2023. This is a very small proportion of overall trading activity within the UK.