Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what oversight her Department has over the operation of the Financial Crime Alerts Service; and which banks have agreed to share information through that Service.

The Department does not have oversight of the Financial Crime Alerts Service. The service was established and is operated by the British Bankers’ Association.

The Government published the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Finance Action Plan on 21 April 2016. As part of the Action Plan, the Government is seeking to strengthen public-private partnership, based on joint-working and the sharing of information.

The Financial Crime Alerts Service is a good example of this kind of partnership and will help deliver the aim, set out in the Strategic Defence and Security Review, to make the UK a more hostile place for those seeking to move, hide or use the proceeds of crime or corruption.

The Financial Crime Alerts Service distributes real-time alerts from domestic and international bodies, including the National Crime Agency and 11 other government and law enforcement agencies, with banking officials in place to tackle fraud, financial crime and other violations.