“The strength of the United Kingdom’s legal and financial institutions has made it a centre of world commerce,” opens the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA) review, Preventing Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism. Of course, that also makes it a centre of money laundering and terrorist financing. The National Crime Agency (NCA) has said that money laundering is likely to cost the United Kingdom more than £24 billion (U.S.$33bn) a year and is a major source of financing for criminal activity.
In addition, law firms that help clients with large financial transactions, and that are seen as inherently “respectable,” are a major target of money launderers.
