Financial crime cost the UK $99 billion in 2023 alone and as fraud grows faster, smarter, and more borderless, the institutions charged with stopping it are under mounting pressure to keep up. The 2026 Global Financial Crime Report examines what’s at stake, and what it will take to fight back.
Nasdaq Verafin’s Global Financial Crime Report quantified the scale of loss in the UK at $99 billion in 2023 — part of an immense $3.1 trillion in illicit flows globally, driven by fraud, money laundering, drug trafficking, human trafficking, and terrorist financing. The costs of these crimes are deeply human, often borne by vulnerable individuals, families, and communities who suffer lasting financial and emotional harm.
Financial crime is also becoming more complex and more coordinated. Criminals have adapted to the real-time and cross‑-border nature of modern payment systems, targeting consumers through Authorised Push Payment (APP) and other fraud scams‑, and moving funds faster and further than ever before. Bad actors and organised criminal enterprises are exploiting the highly interconnected global financial system to move the proceeds of fraud and other predicate crimes, laundering funds internationally at scale. This evolution is increasing both the speed and sophistication of threats, placing growing pressure on financial institutions responsible for detecting and disrupting illicit activity.
As a result, the landscape is changing. Nasdaq Verafin’s Financial Crime Insights: Europe Special Edition found that financial institutions across Europe are continuously enhancing their defenses by investing in people, processes and technology, to keep pace with evolving financial crime threats, while also ensuring compliance with changing obligations for various regulatory frameworks. This increasingly complex environment is contributing to banks’ rising operational costs, which are exacerbated by the inefficiencies of manual processes and legacy technology systems.
Understanding what comes next — in the United Kingdom, across Europe, and globally — is critical to safeguarding trust in the financial system. The ability of financial institutions to manage evolving and emerging threats is paramount to protecting the integrity and security of our global financial system — and ensuring the trust of the communities we serve. Working together to translate innovation and shared priorities into action will be critical.
The 2026 Global Financial Crime Report examines the growing threat to the financial system — and the collaboration needed to stop it. Register your interest to be among the first to access the 2026 report — and gain the insights needed to understand what’s next in the fight against financial crime.
