The number of reports about suspected fraud filed by banks is set to hit one million a year for the first time, the Mail can reveal.
Fraud is one reason individuals or companies may have their account forcibly shut down, otherwise known as being ‘debanked’.
The latest figures, which are due to be released later this month by the National Crime Agency, will fuel concerns about the scale of de-banking in the aftermath of the Nigel Farage affair. The former Ukip leader had his account closed by Coutts because of his political views.
The surge in the number of ‘Suspicious Activity Reports’ (SARs) will spark fears that innocent customers may be wrongly labelled as criminals and frozen out of the financial system.
As well as fraud, customers are also being stripped of their bank accounts for other reasons, including controversial opinions or because they are branded as not being profitable enough.
Increase: Banks and building societies made up the bulk of the 900,000 suspicious activity reports in 2022
More than 140,000 businesses had their accounts closed by the UK’s biggest banks in 2023, MPs said last week.
Banks and building societies made up the bulk of the 900,000 suspicious activity reports in 2022.
The figures about to be published are expected to hit a new high, up from 634,000 in 2017.
This is partly because of sanctions imposed on Russia.
However, experts worry that the banks are becoming trigger-happy.
Jason Hungerford, from law firm Mayer Brown, said: ‘Many banks are filing SARs as a matter of course in sanctions matters when perhaps they don’t need to.’
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