Abstract
The financial services sector is an important part of many economies. In the United Kingdom it assumes a huge contribution to the economy, accounting for 7.9% of UK GDP in 2012, 11.6% of tax receipts and employing over a million people, with a further 967,000 in professional services linked to this sector. Some of the key parts of the financial services sector include insurance, pensions, personal banking services and commercial banking services. In the United Kingdom, financial services also have a significant global dimension, attracting substantial foreign investment and in 2011 generating a trade surplus of £47 billion (The City UK, 2013). There are a wide range of criminal activities which occur in the financial services sector. They range from a robber holding up a bank with a gun, cyber criminals seeking to hack into bank computers to steal funds, to complex frauds perpetrated by the financial services sector against their own customers. Fraud alone is estimated to cost the financial services sector over £5 billion in 2012 (National Fraud Authority, 2013). The response to deal with this crime is also more complex. There are the traditional criminal justice agencies dealing with the ubiquitous volume crimes, but there is also a substantial private sector employed by the financial services organizations to protect it from crime, and there are also a number of regulators dealing with what many would regard as crimes but are not treated as such. For these reasons the financial services sector makes such an interesting case study to explore. This chapter will begin by arguing some deviant behaviours in the financial services sector which could be treated as crimes that seldom are and are frequently referred to as ‘grey crimes’. Sutherland (1949) was one of the first researchers to note the different way ‘white-collar’ crimes are dealt with in comparison to volume crimes. In this chapter, criminal behaviours in the financial services sector will be broadly grouped under the following key headings.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Anderton B. and Kiely J. (1988). Employee Theft.. Personnel Review 17(5), 37–43.
Association of British Insurers (2012). No Hiding Place: Insurance Fraud Exposed. London: Association of British Insurers.
Association of British Insurers (2013). Key Facts. Accessed May 26, 2014, from https://www.abi.org.uk/~/media/Files/Documents/Publications/Public/2013/industry%20data/UK%20Insurance%20Key%20Facts%202013.ashx to ensure the insurance industry in the UK meets the highest standards, providing high quality products and services to customers, while continuing to be a global leader and serve the UK economy20data/UK%20Insurance%20Key%20Facts%202013.ashx
Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (2012). The National Crime Agency. APCC Briefing. Accessed November 14, 2013, from http://www.apccs.police.uk/fileUploads/Briefing_day_29th_June/NCA.pdf
Ayres, I. and Braithwaite, J. (1992). Responsive Regulation: Transcending the Deregulation Debate. New York: Oxford University Press.
Bailey, A. (2012). The Prudential Regulation Authority. Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin Q4, pp. 354–362. Accessed November 14, 2013, from http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/quarterlybulletin/qb1204.pdf.
Barnes, P. (2011). Insider Dealing and Market Abuse: The UK’s Record of Enforcement.. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice, 39, 174–189.
BBC News (2005). Record Bank Robbery in Brazil. Accessed November 14, 2013, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4133388.stm.
BBC News (2012). HSBC to Pay $1.9 billion in US Money Laundering Penalties. Accessed November 14, 2013, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20673466.
Becker, H. (1963). Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance. London: MacMillan.
Bitner, R. (2008). Greed, Fraud and Ignorance: A Subprime Insider’s Look at the Mortgage Collapse. Colleyville, Texas: LTV Media LLC.
Button, M. (2002). Private Policing. Cullompton: Willan Publishing.
Button, M. and Brooks, G. (2014). From ‘Shallow’ to ‘Deep’ Policing: ‘Crash-for-Cash’ Insurance Fraud Investigation in England and Wales and the Need for Greater Regulation. Policing and Society.
Button, M., Tapley, J. and Lewis, C. (2013). The ‘Fraud Justice Network’ and the Infrastructure of Support for Individual Fraud Victims in England and Wales.. Criminology and Criminal Justice, 13, 37–61.
Button, M. and Tunley, M. (2013). Fraud, Immoral Phlegmatism and Deviancy Attenuation. Unpublished Paper.
Chaplin, R., Flatley, J. and Smith, K. (2011). Crime in England and Wales 2010–11. London: Home Office.
Chiu, I. H-Y. (2012). Macroprudential Supervision: Critically Examining the Developments in the UK, EU and Internationally.. Law and Financial Markets Review, May 2012, 184–199.
CIFAS (2013). Fraud Increase Driven Exclusively by Identity Crime. Accessed May 26, 2014, from http://www.cifas.org.uk/fraudtrendstwentytwelve
The City UK (2013). Key Facts About UK Financial and Professional Services. London: UK. Accessed January 08, 2013, from http://www.thecityuk.com/research/our-work/reports-list/key-facts-about-uk-financial-and-professional-services/.
Clarke, M. (1989). Insurance Fraud.. British Journal of Criminology, 29(1), 1–20.
Daily Mirror (2012). Call this Justice? City Banker Steals £1.4m... No Charge. Shop Worker Steals £10k... 9 Months. Accessed November 17, 2013, from http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/call-this-justice-city-banker-steals-663079.
Daily Telegraph (2009). IMF Puts Total Cost of Crisis at £7.1 Trillion. Accessed May 26, 2014, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/5995810/IMF-puts-total-cost-of-crisis-at-7.1-trillion.html.
Daily Telegraph (2013a). Barclays Hacking Attack Stole £1.3 Million, Police Say. Accessed May 26, 2014, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10322536/Barclays-hacking-attack-gang-stole-1.3-million-police-say.html.
Daily Telegraph (2013b). Every Minute of Every Day A Bank Is Under Cyber Attack. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/10359563/Every-minute-of-every-day-a-bank-is-under-cyber-attack.html
Daripa, A., Kapur, S. and Wright, S. (2013). Labour’s Record on Financial Regulation.. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 29(1), 71–94.
de Grazia (2008). Review of the Serious Fraud Office — Final Report. London: Serious Fraud Office.
Ditton, J. (1977). Part Time Crime: An Ethnography of Fiddling and Pilferage. London: Macmillan.
Dodd, N.J. (1998). Insurance Claims Fraud: Applying Psychology to the Reduction of Insurance Claims Fraud.. Insurance Trends, 18, 11–16.
Doig, A. (2006). Fraud. Cullompton: Willan.
Faulds, F. and Bessis, J. (2013). Editorial A Question of Conduct.. Journal of Risk Management in Financial Institutions, 6(3), 216–218.
Ferguson N. (2008). The Ascent of Money. London: Penguin.
Ferran, E. (2011). The Break-up of the Financial Services Authority.. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 31(3), 455–480.
Financial Conduct Authority (2013). Regulating. Published 28/03/2013. Accessed November 27, 2013, from http://www.fca.org.uk/about/what/regulating.
Financial Services Authority (2012a). Final Notice. Accessed November 27, 2013, from http://www.fsa.gov.uk/static/pubs/final/ravi-sinha.pdf.
Financial Services Authority (2012b). Business Plan 2012/13. Accessed November 27, 2013, from http://www.fsa.gov.uk/static/pubs/plan/bp2012-13.pdf.
Fooks, G. (1999). The Serious Fraud Office: A Police Force of the City or a Police Force for the City. Paper Presented to the British Criminology Conference, Liverpool John Moores University
Fooks, G. (2003). In the Valley of the Blind the One Eyed Man Is King: Corporate Crime and the Myopia of Financial Regulation, in Tombs, S and Whyte, D. (eds.) Unmasking Crimes of the Powerful: Scrutinising States and Corporations. New York: Peter Lang. pp. 105–128.
Fraud Advisory Panel (2006). Improving the Investigation and Prosecution of Serious Fraud. London: Fraud Advisory Panel.
Fraud Review Team (2006). Fraud Review: Final Report. London: Fraud Review Team. Accessed August 1, 2006, from http://www.lslo.gov.uk/pdf/fraudreview.pdf.
Gannon, R. And Doig, A. (2010). Ducking the Answer? Fraud Strategies and Police Resources.. Policing and Society, 20(1), 39–60.
Georgosouli, A. (2012). The FCA–PRA Coordination Scheme and the Challenge of Policy Coherence.. Capital Markets Law Journal, 8(1), 62–76.
Gill, K., Woolley, A. and Gill, M. (1994). Insurance Fraud: The Business as a Victim, in Gill, M (ed.). Crime at Work. Leicester: Perpetuity Press, 1. pp. 73–82.
The Guardian (2013a). Sixty Guilty in ‘crash-for-cash’ Scams. Accessed April 12, 2013, from http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/mar/18/sixty-guilty-crash-cash-scam.
The Guardian (2013b). PPI Facts and Figures from the ‘Biggest mis-selling scandal of all time’. Accessed May 26, 2014, from http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/mar/04/ppi-facts-figures-biggest-mis-selling-scandal
Guildhall Chambers (n.d). Conniving, Collusion and Contempt. Accessed April 29, 2013, from http://www.guildhallchambers.co.uk/uploads/docs/section9/ConnivingcollusioncontempJCB.pdf.
Hallsworth, A.G. and Skinner, F. (2008). Visibly in Trouble: Northern Rock, a Post-Mortem on a Financial Crisis.. Area, 40(2), 278–283.
IFED (2013). Annual Review 2012. London: City of London Police. Accessed April 29, 2013, from http://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/NR/rdonlyres/06894EB0-EAAB-4FD5-8444-03CDE7866E3D/0/IFEDReviewWebversionfinal.pdf.
Johnston, L. (1992). The Rebirth of Private Policing. London: Routledge.
Jones, T. and Newburn, T. (1998). Private Security and Public Policing. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Jones, T. and Newburn, T. (Eds.) (2006). Plural Policing: A Comparative Perspective. Abingdon: Routledge.
Levi, M. (1986). Investigating Fraud.. Policing, 2(3), 196–211.
Levi, M. (1987). Regulating Fraud. London: Routledge.
Levi, M. (1993). The Investigation, Prosecution and Trial of Serious Fraud, Royal Commission on Criminal Justice Research Study 14. London: HMSO.
Levi, M. (2008). Policing Fraud and Organised Crime, in Newburn, T. (ed.) Handbook of Policing. 2nd ed. Cullompton: Willan Publishing. pp. 522–552.
Levi, M. and Burrows, J. (2008). Measuring the Impact of Fraud in the UK: A Conceptual and Empirical Journey.. British Journal of Criminology, 48, 293–318.
Mars, G. (1983). Cheats at Work: An Anthropology of Workplace Crime. London: Unwin.
Mazerolle, L.G. and Ransley, J. (2005). Third Party Policing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
McGrath, P. (2008). Commercial Fraud in Civil Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Murphy, E. and Senior, S. (2013). Changes to the Bank of England. Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin Q1, pp. 20–28. Accessed November 12, 2013, from http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/quarterlybulletin/2013/qb130102.pdf.
National Commission on the Causes of the Financial and Economic Crisis in the United States (2011). The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report. USA: Pacific Publishing Studio.
National Fraud Authority. (2013). Annual Fraud Indicator. London: NFA. Accessed January 08, 2014, from https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/206552/nfa-annual-fraud-indicator-2013.pdf.
Office for National Statistics (2013). Crime in England and Wales, Year Ending September 2012 Statistical Bulletin. Accessed February 5, 2013, from http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_296191.pdf.
Reuter, P. (2013). Are Estimates of the Volume of Money Laundering Either Feasible or Useful, in Unger, B. and Van der Linde, D. (eds.) Research Handbook on Money Laundering. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. pp. 224–231.
Roskill, Lord (1986). Report of the Fraud Trials Committee. London: HMSO.
Ryder, N. (2011a). Financial Crime in the 21st Century. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.
Ryder, N. (2011b). The Fight Against Illicit Finance: A Critical Review of the Labour Government’s Policy.. Journal of Banking Regulation, 12(3), 252–275.
Serious Fraud Office (2013). Serious Fraud Office Annual Report and Accounts 2012–13. Accessed November 12, 2013, from http://www.sfo.gov.uk/media/256255/30597%20hc%209.pdf.
Smith, G., Button M., Johnston, L. and Frimpong, K. (2011). Studying Fraud as White Collar Crime. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Soin, K. and Huber, C. (2013). The Sedimentation of an Institution: Changing Governance in U.K. Financial Services.. Journal of Management Inquiry, 22(3), 260–280.
Sutherland, E. (1949). White Collar Crime. New York: Holt.
Tannenbaum, F. (1938). Crime and the Community. New York: Columbia University Press.
Taylor, M. (1995). Twin Peaks: A Regulatory Structure for the New Century. London: Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation.
Tomasic, R. (2011). The Financial Crisis and the Haphazard Pursuit of Financial Crime.. Journal of Financial Crime, 18(1), 7–31.
Transparency International (n.d.). UK Corruption Statistics. Accessed November 28, 2013, from http://www.transparency.org.uk/corruption/statistics-and-quotes/uk-corruption
Watkins, P. (2011). Shadow Banking: Accounting for Canada’s Productivity Gap.. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 60(8), 857–864.
Wilkins, L. (1964). Social Deviance: Social Policy, Action and Research. London: Tavistock.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2014 Mark Button and Martin Tunley
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Button, M., Tunley, M. (2014). Criminal Activity in the Financial Sector. In: Gill, M. (eds) The Handbook of Security. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-67284-4_20
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-67284-4_20
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-67286-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-67284-4
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social Sciences CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)