On 16-17th January 2025, the Joffe Trust convened a conference to identify how to accelerate progress in the UK’s fight against economic crime.

The conference brought together over 50 senior experts from across government, the private sector and civil society. There was a great deal of energy to get to know each other’s views better and identify how to achieve more together.

This was the next in our series of cross-sector events. It followed on from our initial conference at Wilton Park in May 2023.

Participants said they found the conference distinctive and very valuable. Feedback included asking for it to be longer! Comments about what they appreciated included:

  • “Getting the perspectives of those who represent a majority of the financial crime ecosystem. This is rare.”
  • “Clarified high level of shared understanding, commitment and focus on what needs to be done across the community.”
  • “The safe space that it has created for open discussion with good level of engagement from all sectors represented.”

Participants asked for follow up including focused work on specific priorities and a similar conference in a year or two’s time.

Here at the Joffe Trust, we will get to work on how we can keep helping to meet this demand. The first step will be to work with others to identify priority areas, possibly such as:

  • Strengthening evidence about the scale of economic crime, the benefits of tackling it and specific outcomes that could be achieved.
  • Developing public narrative and education about the urgency of tackling economic crime.
  • Continuing to make the most of current momentum and reforms.
  • Preparing for upcoming major events such as the UK’s 2027 FATF Mutual Evaluation, or the summit of international financial centres proposed by the Foreign Secretary.

We would welcome views on this work. Please do not hesitate to get in touch.