The UKFIU has published the 2022 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) Annual Report, which features statistics covering the years 2020-21 and 2021-22. The latest report reveals another record year with 901,255 SARs received and processed (a 21% increase on the previous year). In addition, £305.7M denied to suspected criminals as a result of Defence Against Money Laundering (DAML) requests (a 120.6% increase on the £138.6M denied in 2020-21). It is worth noting that whilst the increase in seized suspected criminal funds is an improvement from last year, there is so much more to be done.
I know from my own personal experience that financial institutions are holding on to significant sums in suspected criminal funds that have not been subject to seizure order but cannot be returned to the rightful owner. In these circumstances, consideration should be given to donating the funds to the reclaim fund or some other charitable cause following due process.
Read full report here – https://nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/who-we-are/publications/632-2022-sars-annual-report-1/file
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