The number of reports of suspected fraud filed by banks will reach one million per year for the first time, the Mail has revealed.
Fraud is one of the reasons why individuals or companies may be forced to close their accounts, also known as ‘debanking’.
The latest figures, due to be released by the National Crime Agency later this month, will fuel concerns about the scale of de-banking in the wake of the Nigel Farage affair. The former UKIP leader had his account closed by Coutts due to his political views.
The rise in the number of ‘Suspicious Activity Reports’ (SARs) will raise fears that innocent customers will be wrongly labeled as criminals and frozen out of the financial system.
In addition to fraud, customers are also robbed of their bank accounts for other reasons, such as controversial opinions or because they are branded as not profitable enough.
Increase: Banks and building societies made up the majority of the 900,000 reports of suspicious activity in 2022
More than 140,000 businesses will have their accounts closed by Britain’s biggest banks by 2023, MPs said last week.
Banks and building societies made up the majority of the 900,000 reports of suspicious activity in 2022.
The figures to be published soon are expected to reach a new high, up from 634,000 in 2017.
This is partly due to the sanctions imposed on Russia.
However, experts are concerned that the banks are becoming trigger-happy.
Jason Hungerford, of law firm Mayer Brown, said: “Many banks file SARs in sanctions cases as a matter of course, even though they may not need to.”