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If banks can’t stop money laundering, it is time for regulators to do more

Firms spend around £28.7bn a year on anti-money laundering compliance but there is little evidence that things are getting better

If banks can’t stop money laundering, it is time for regulators to do more
Photo: Getty Images

Some financial crimes are so sophisticated it is easy to see how they went undetected. The NatWest money laundering debacle is not one of them.

On October 7, the bank pleaded guilty to failing to prevent the laundering of nearly £400m by Fowler Oldfield, a Bradford-based wholesale jeweller that closed down following a police raid in 2016.

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