The UK is second on the list of global money laundering hotspots, new research from Credas has found.

The study found that an estimated £88 billion is laundered every year in the UK.

Around the world, the total amount laundered annually is estimated at about 3 per cent of global GDP, or £1.8 trillion, according to the report.

The research shows that when taking the GDP of each nation into account, the UK comes second in the table, with this 4.3 per cent of GDP equating to £87.9 billion of money being laundered annually.

In first place is the US - while its criminal activity only accounts for 1.4 per cent of the nation’s GDP, this totals £216.5 billion every year.

France - £54.5 billion - Germany - £51.3 billion - and Canada - £25.6 billion - also rank within the top five.

Iceland places last, with just £370 million in value, followed by Estonia - £703.4 million and Latvia - £750 million.

“The practice of money laundering is as old as the hills and it’s one area of criminal activity that is incredibly tricky to eradicate as it can be done in such a vast and varied number of ways,” said Tim Barnett, chief executive of Credas Technologies. “It’s also a practice that continues to evolve with the times and in more recent years we’ve seen criminals utilise online banking, cryptocurrencies and, most recently, NFT marketplaces, in order to wash dirty cash.

“Prevention is always better than cure and our technology is deployed the length and breadth of the nation and across a multitude of sectors to ensure that businesses are safeguarded against this illegal activity.”

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