Financial crime is multi-faceted, multi-national and very often invisible, making it hard to identify, measure and combat. Its impact is felt in many ways.

For those forced into slave labor by criminals infiltrating supply chains, or the victims of sex trafficking gangs who launder their profits through the financial system, the cost is catastrophic. For others, it is wrongly seen as a victimless crime, only impacting big businesses, and even having benefits for some such as cheaper goods. Organizations are paying a heavy financial cost, collectively spending billions trying to prevent financial crime, yet they are seeing ever greater amounts disappear from their businesses as a result of money laundering, fraud, theft and corruption.

At a national level, revenues lost through financial crime mean governments collect less tax revenues and fewer schools and hospitals are built, causing disarray due to the criminal and terrorist activities it funds. At Refinitiv we are committed to uncovering the true scale of the challenge to raise awareness and create the data and coalitions that will increase our ability to fight financial crime together, more effectively around the world. To this end, we have commissioned an independent survey of over 2,300 senior executives in large companies, across 19 countries, to identify the true cost of the problem. We also conducted interviews with leading NGOs (Education Endowment Foundation, Transparency International UK, Walk Free Foundation) and the European Union’s law enforcement agency to reveal the wider economic, social and human impact. Finally, we identified ways in which business, governments and Refinitiv are working together to lead the fight against financial crime.

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