Beyond Information Sharing
Economic crime recognises no sectoral boundaries, so neither can our response. Effective collaboration requires more than occasional data exchange - it demands shared threat intelligence, joint training programmes, rapid response frameworks, and open dialogue between regulators, law enforcement, and industry.
Most critically, it requires shared accountability for our collective challenge. Organisations like Cifas exemplify this principle, with 800 members sharing information daily through their databases, revealing patterns and threats that transcend individual sectors.
The Evolution of Partnership
The relationship between law enforcement and private sector has transformed significantly. Five years ago, the Joint Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce operated transactionally: law enforcement requested information with limited reciprocity. Today, the relationship has matured into genuine collaboration, with intelligence flowing in both directions.
However, UK partnerships still focus narrowly on entities possessing data or facing regulatory requirements. The future demands broader thinking - incorporating third-party data providers who can aggregate beneficial ownership transparency at scale in ways government and law enforcement cannot achieve alone.
The Power of Data Fusion
True intelligence power emerges when multiple sources converge: financial transaction data, beneficial ownership information, and government holdings. This fusion creates compelling risk pictures that transition from intelligence to actionable operations.
The challenge lies in mature engagement: recognising where law enforcement can progress investigations to a point but requires private sector expertise for the next level, whether in investigation, asset recovery, or deterrence communications.
Criminals Don't Stay in Their Lane
Criminality has evolved fundamentally. Tobacco smugglers now engage with organised immigration criminals and drug traffickers, because they have a service or a capability that the organised crime group could usefully use. This fluidity demands equivalent flexibility from enforcement.
Historical parochialism has given way to genuine multi-agency collaboration. Recent successes, such as a £90 million confiscation order secured jointly by HMRC and Lancashire Police, exemplify this new norm. Upcoming High Street intensification exercises - involving all regional organised crime units and all 43 police forces including Scotland and Northern Ireland - demonstrate truly integrated responses.
The Maturity Imperative
The scale of economic crime means no organisation can fight it in isolation. What's required is fundamentally more mature public-private partnerships, characterised by:
- Active participation in information-sharing platforms
- Willingness to share intelligence outward, not just gather inward
- Building relationships beyond traditional regulatory counterparts
- Contributing to joint training and rapid response frameworks
The multifaceted risks we face demand closer cooperation between public sector, private sector, and law enforcement. The encouraging news is this transformation is underway, moving from transactional exchanges to genuinely transformational partnerships capable of delivering systemic impact against economic crime.
Jessica Kimbell, GovNet
