Financial crime in the UK has reached critical levels, according to a study by the NGO Spotlight on Corruption. Corruption, money laundering or fraud cost the country's economy £290 billion every year.

A "series of leaked investigations", such as the Panama or Pandora papers, have shown that the UK's financial and property sectors continue to be major magnets for money laundering. According to the NGO Spotlight on Corruption, the British government spends only 852 million pounds each year to fight economic crime, which nevertheless costs "290 billion pounds a year to the economy, or 14.5% of GDP", summarizes the NGO in a press release Monday accompanying the study. The study indicates that prosecutions for money laundering have dropped by 35% over the past five years, as have the number of investigations opened or the number of people convicted, and some state agencies have seen their budgets shrink in real terms.