Over half of businesses feel current regulations do not go far enough to protect them from the threat of financial crime, new research shows.
A survey conducted by professional accountancy body, the ACCA shows that 53% do not think the authorities have the expertise to address the scale of the challenge.
According to the research, almost 80% of businesses stated that financial crime poses a real risk, while 30% have recently encountered financial crime.
32% of businesses also said that they have no supports or programmes in place to protect them against financial crime with companies being most exposed to cyber-crime and fraud.
The findings support the views of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) who last month said that Ireland is at the centre of an international money laundering operation, and despite successes against organised crime, more work and adequate resourcing is needed.
"There can be no doubt about the positive impact that the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) has had in detecting financial crime and achieving convictions but it is clear from our survey that better regulation with more trained experts are required to address new methods of financial crime that continues to emerge," said Stephen Noonan Head of ACCA Ireland.
"While the Central Bank of Ireland plays an important role in monitoring and supervising financial and credit institutions' compliance with anti-money laundering legislation including business risk assessment, organised crime gangs are successfully defrauding businesses across a broad range of sectors, and there needs to be a holistic and concerted approach to addressing this," he added.
Mr Noonan urged accountancy professions to remain vigilant.
"To ensure our members are fully trained in these areas, ACCA regularly run courses to provide up-to-date information on best practice approaches to recognising and addressing anti-money laundering and fraud.
"I would also urge all businesses to ensure that they adopt good governance measures including bespoke supports and programmes to mitigate the risk that financial crime poses and protect themselves from these evolving and pernicious attacks," he added.
