Recent data from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) sheds light on whistleblowing reports that the regulator has received about firms' anti-money laundering (AML) controls.

UK Whistleblowing Reports

The data, obtained by consultancy firm Accuracy via a Freedom of Information request, reportedly shows that over the past five years, employees at finance firms have submitted 141 whistleblowing reports relating to AML to the FCA. The data also shows that, during this period, the number of AML whistleblowing reports has declined. In the 2021 to 2022 period, which is the most recent period reported on, nine reports were made; down from 25 reports made the previous year and the peak of 45 reports in the 2018 to 2019 period.

Notwithstanding this decline, the total number of reports over this period remains significant and shows that the regulator's concerns about how firms are handling AML risks are being echoed by those closest to the action.

What we do not know from this data is how many of these reports resulted in investigations by the FCA, the specific nature of the tips, or whether whistleblowers had first taken their concerns to the relevant firms before reporting to the regulator.

But, with the additional pressures of a U.S. whistleblower law that provides monetary incentive to tipsters, including UK-based employees, we anticipate that more AML whistleblower reports will be made in the coming years. To address this emerging risk, firms should consider reviewing their...

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