The Serious and Organised Crime Agency is to work more closely with the private sector, lessening the demands for money laundering information in investigations from banks and other financial institutions.
The Agency's predecessor, the National Criminal Intelligence Service was criticised by the financial services industry for demanding huge amounts of information for no obvious reasons. The Government believe that they have come a long way in tackling money laundering by introducing new regulations, but critics say that they have done too little, too late.
Our view
Anything that reduces the risk of financial crime as well as the burden on business is good news.