by Matthew Russell Partner, Financial Crime +44 (0)7803 858642 More articles by Matthew by Ben Luddington Director, PwC UK +44 (0)7764 958062 More articles by Ben In a recent Dear CEO letter to retail banks, the FCA highlighted concerns over financial crime systems and controls. It noted that weaknesses in financial crime controls are sufficiently serious to have led to business restrictions, enforcement actions and skilled person appointments under a ‘section 166’. Under section 166 of the Financial Services and Markets Act, the FCA has a power to require a firm and certain other person ..read more

by Kathryn Westmore Forensic Accountant +44 (0) 20 7213 2942 More articles by Kathryn The FCA’s recent Dear CEO letter reveals a regulator frustrated with the lack of compliance with some basic principles of money laundering regulations from retail banking firms. It’s a comprehensive list of areas where they see organisations failing to meet regulatory obligations or manage their anti-money laundering (AML) risks effectively. With the increased focus on underlying offences such as human trafficking and the illicit wildlife trade, these weaknesses will only make it harder for organisations ..read more

by Ermelinda Beqiraj Partner, PwC United Kingdom +44 (0)7872 005508 More articles by Ermelinda We’re living in an age of accountability and transparency; the damage to a brand and customer relationships can be enormous when things go wrong. If companies do face a mass claim situation, it needs to be dealt with quickly, efficiently, transparently and fairly. But not all companies have the necessary scale, infrastructure or resources to do this. Even organisations with claims teams and past experience can find the combination of a sudden crisis, volume and complexity of claims a challenge.&n ..read more

by Jessica Wilkinson Senior Manager, Forensic Investigations, PwC United Kingdom +44 (0)7525 282723 More articles by Jessica The use of recruitment agencies has come under scrutiny, following a recent investigation detailed in the Guardian regarding ‘Mini Umbrella Companies’, which typically employ and pay agency workers. Most recruitment agencies operate legitimately, but not all. HMRC has warned that MUCs can be used to evade tax and undermine workers’ rights - estimates suggest they cost billions in taxes and unpaid wages each year. Given the dangers that this poses, the topic of how to ..read more

by Rob Wilson Procurement Protect Lead, PwC United Kingdom +44 (0)7889 645101 More articles by Rob The way we all work has undergone a significant shift. But what’s often forgotten is that this change doesn’t only apply to us. Criminals have adapted too. In particular, disruption caused by the pandemic has created an opportunity around procurement fraud and left companies with a tricky problem. How to spot the fraud when there’s no more ‘business as usual’. Fraud tends to happen when there is opportunity, incentive, and the ability to rationalise the act. The pandemic has offered up all thr ..read more

by Patrick Marter Partner, Procurement and Cost Transformation, PwC United Kingdom +44 (0)7710 611619 More articles by Patrick As the economy begins to recover, organisations in every sector are focused on minimising costs. For financial institutions, margin squeeze in wholesale and institutional banking is adding to the pressure. However, despite over a decade-long focus on cost (post financial crisis) there are still real, untapped, saving opportunities. One of the most significant of these is in variable trading costs paid by financial institutions, such as brokerage, clearing, exchang ..read more

by Ben Luddington Director, PwC UK +44 (0)7764 958062 More articles by Ben by Smita Verma Manager, PwC UK +44 (0)7483 936020 More articles by Smita As cryptocurrencies become increasingly popular, they continue to attract extensive financial crime regulations. Custodian wallet providers, issuers, cryptoasset ATMs and crypto exchanges must now register with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and comply with the Money Laundering Regulations. Crypto firms are now obliged to conduct Know-Your-Customer (KYC) checks, monitor suspicious transactions and breaches of financial sanctions and f ..read more

by Mark Anderson Automotive Forensics Leader and Supply Chain Resilience Leader, PwC UK +44 (0)7770 921256 More articles by Mark Every year the Oxford English Dictionary announces a ‘word of the year’ that reflects the year’s mood and developments. In 2020, due to the sheer number of developments, it announced 47. Lockdown, support bubbles, doomscrolling, zoombombing. All became mainstream last year, cementing their place in everyday conversation, sometimes overnight. Though it didn’t make the official list, I definitely saw a rise in the use of ‘supply chain resilience’ in strategic conve ..read more

by Michael Gibbons Partner, Financial Services, PwC UK +44 (0)7841 569523 More articles by Michael by Paul Youster Director, PwC UK . More articles by Paul The world of change management has not escaped 2020’s ripple effect. At the start of lockdown, businesses had to rapidly adapt on a massive scale, with many shifting staff to remote working within days. Within weeks, some organisations needed the agility to set up and manage new areas of their business to deal with a spike in customer demand. Elsewhere for many others, large scale programmes had to be paused, accelerated, amended or i ..read more

by Michael Gibbons Partner, PwC UK +44 (0)7841 569523 More articles by Michael Our recent survey found the majority of our clients planned to use more managed solutions in the coming months, even before COVID-19. In fact, it appears that over half of all consulting spend in the next decade will be on managed services. The question is: why? Clients asking for advice on how to do things better is the daily norm for professional services. But in the last couple of years, and accelerated in response to the pandemic, something has changed. Clients are going one step further. Don’t just advise m ..read more