By Rusi - Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies

Economic crime poses a significant threat to the UK, undermining its financial stability and security. To address this threat, in March 2023, the UK government launched the Economic Crime Plan 2,1 outlining a series of coordinated actions that should be undertaken across multiple government departments. Among these measures, the National Economic Crime Centre (NECC) was tasked with developing a people strategy to strengthen expertise and cross-sector collaboration, considering partnerships with industry and other stakeholders such as academia.2 Although there is a growing body of research on economic crime in the UK, there is scope for academia to play a more important role as a valuable resource in combatting economic crime. In October 2024, the NECC and the Home Office convened the first Economic Crime Academic Forum, hosted by RUSI’s Centre for Finance and Security. The forum aimed to bridge the gap between academic research and policymaking by fostering dialogue and identifying actionable solutions to issues including money laundering, fraud, kleptocracy and corruption. Academic participants came from a range of related disciplines and included both more established and early career academics, bringing a range of perspectives. Government attendees came from multiple government departments and law enforcement. The discussions focused on three aspects of research on economic crime: economic crime threats; the response to economic crime in terms of policy, enforcement and evaluation; and research methods and associated challenges. Due to the breadth and fluidity of the discussion, this report does not provide a linear summary of the matters raised. Instead, it details ways in which academics conduct research on economic crime, identifies gaps and challenges in research and academic engagement with government initiatives, and explores potential solutions. The forum was conducted on a non-attributable basis.

London: Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI), 2025. 11p

By Transparency International

Despite international standards and collective commitments, the world’s biggest economies and some key financial hubs remain far too open to corrupt people and other criminals laundering and enjoying their ill-gotten gains through real estate.

To help policymakers address these ongoing challenges, Transparency International and the Anti-Corruption Data Collective (ACDC) developed the Opacity in Real Estate Ownership (OREO) Index. The Index evaluates the ideal framework to protect real estate markets from dirty money, using two pillars. The first pillar assesses the availability and adequacy of real estate data. The second measures the coverage and scope of the anti-money laundering legal framework as it applies to the real estate sector.

The first edition of the index reveals gaps that make global property markets vulnerable to corrupt money flows through assessing and ranking 24 jurisdictions, including 18 G20 member nations plus guest countries Spain and Norway, as well as Hong Kong, Panama, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

No country achieves a perfect mark, with 10 jurisdictions scoring below five out of possible 10 points.

By exposing weaknesses, the OREO Index aims to drive reforms that enhance transparency and accountability in the real estate sector. Both an effective data system and comprehensive anti-money laundering safeguards are essential for effectively preventing, detecting and investigating money laundering, and identifying policy gaps that allow it to go undiscovered.

Berlin: Transparency International, 2025. 49p.