The banking sector submitted more than 380,000 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) last year, which saw a 3% rise in the total number of SARs from the year before, a new study from SmartSearch has revealed.

Research from the anti-money laundering expert showed the total number of SARs submitted rose from 463,938 in 2017/18 to 478,437 in 2018/19, while UK banks submitted 383,733 SARs between April 2018 and March 2019 – accounting for 80% of total reports submitted over the 12-month period.

Building societies (21,714) received the next most SARs with other entities regulated by the FCA (12,046) rounding off the top three. Money transmission (11,591), electronic payment (9,517), bureau de change (6,662), credit card (5,728), accountants (4,976) gaming (4,153) and finance companies (3,020) completed the top 10.

SARs are submitted to the National Crime Agency when a person or organisation suspects someone of being involved in suspicious activity, such as money laundering or terrorist financing, and aim to alert law enforcement to potential instances of these crimes.

SmartSearch CEO, John Dobson, commented: “Law enforcement cannot tackle the enormous problem of money laundering by themselves, they need assistance from institutions that may be targeted by money launderers.

“The SAR system is crucial in stamping out money laundering from our financial system and organisations should submit reports as frequently as necessary. Private citizens can even submit reports if they suspect something is amiss.

“It’s worrying to see the total number of reports increasing year-on-year; however, it does indicate that industries and perhaps individuals are becoming savvier to this type of illegal activity. There are a lot of ways in which businesses can protect themselves from fraudulent activity and it’s important that this remains high on business leaders’ agendas in 2020.”

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