UK banks enabled ‘flow of dirty money’, leaked secret files claim

British banks have been accused of enabling fraudsters, criminals and money-launderers, following a leak of secret files. A cache of more than 2,000 suspicious activity reports (SARs) – those filed to the authorities by banks who suspect wrongdoing – reportedly contains allegations that a number of major UK lenders allowed dirty money to flow through their accounts. Over 100 global organisations reported on the so-called FinCEN Files, which were obtained by BuzzFeed News and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). Allegations in the consortium’s reporting include that HSBC allowed money from a Ponzi scheme to be transferred around the world and that a close associate of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, may have used Barclays to launder money and avoid sanctions. The SARs contained in the leak cover more than $2 trillion (£1.5 trillion) worth of transactions, conducted between 1999 and 2007.