The financial services industry has welcomed Tony Blair’s launch of the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca), saying it will help tackle the growth of online identity theft.

The National Hi-Tech Crime Unit – which has responsibility for tackling organised crime gangs that use the internet for extortion, fraud, hacking and virus writing – will form part of the new agency.

Home Secretary Charles Clarke says that by consolidating 4,000 staff from the National Crime Squad, National Crime Intelligence Service and parts of HM Revenue and Customs into one co-ordinated agency, Soca will ‘exploit high-tech 21st century technology and uncover the new wave of crime bosses’.

One of Soca’s first tasks will be to integrate intelligence gathering systems required to help smash organised immigration crime, money laundering and identity fraud gangs.

‘Organised crime is a massive and growing problem affecting every neighbourhood in the UK, damaging our communities to the tune of more than £20bn in criminal profit,’ said Clarke.

Philip Robinson, financial crime sector leader at UK regulator the Financial Services Authority, says co-ordinated policing efforts will help tackle internet fraud.

‘We see increasing evidence of serious organised crime using activities such as money laundering, allowing criminals to both finance and conceal activities which bring a great deal of harm to wider society,’ he said.

As well as benefiting from intelligence on how criminals target banks and launder money, the financial services industry will also share its knowledge with the new crime agency, says Robinson.

The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) is also working with Soca to review the industry’s Suspicious Activity Report system used by financial services firms to report potentially criminal transactions.

‘BBA members have high hopes that the new arrangements will produce more effective co-operation between the financial sector and the law enforcement agencies,’ said BBA chief executive Ian Mullen.

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