Britain's banks must make the fight against dirty money a "top priority" or risk facing more severe fines, Bank of England Deputy Governor Sam Woods said today.
Global banks, including UK-based HSBC, Barclays and Standard Chartered, face fresh scrutiny on their efforts to curb money laundering.
This comes after a cache of leaked documents showed they transferred more than $2 trillion in suspect funds over nearly two decades.
Sam Woods said it was vital that banks played their part in fighting financial crime as the "FinCEN" leaks were a good reminder of how criminals will use the financial system for their own ends.
"If the banks get this wrong, then costs for them are very severe, as you have seen in recent years the big fines here in the UK and in the US," Woods told Bloomberg TV.
"They have been doing a lot but they'll need to do more, and unfortunately this is one of those things that the job is never done," Woods said, adding that he did not think new rules were necessary at this point.
HSBC has said the information in the reports was historic, while Standard Chartered pointed to investments to improve its control procedures.
Barclays said global banks were supportive of initiatives to improve transparency of how money was held around the world and which should make client due diligence "a lot easier".
Global spending on anti-money laundering (AML) software was close to $1.5 billion at the end of 2019.
It is expected to exceed $1.9 billion by the end of 2023, according to Boston-based financial research and advisory firm Aite Group.
Earlier today, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said it was studying media reports that Singapore banks had informed US regulators of suspicious transactions, adding that it would take "appropriate action" based on the outcome of its review.
