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The FCA is going harder on financial crime. Steve Smart, the authority’s executive director of enforcement, made that clear during his speech at the Law Society Economic Crime Conference 2026, calling for collective action and warning that the old ways of policing money laundering and fraud aren’t cutting it anymore.
Smart didn’t mince words. The FCA wants firms to see themselves as active partners in the fight, not just passive recipients of regulatory guidance. That means sharing information, flagging suspicious transactions, and leaning into the tools now available — including a secure intelligence-sharing channel created under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act. The idea is to stop financial crime from spreading between firms before it takes hold. And the FCA, for its part, is putting real resources behind that goal.
One early sign: the threshold for the Defence Against Money Laundering Suspicious Activity Report has been adjusted to £3,000. That’s not a small tweak.
AI and 56 Million Records a Day
The FCA’s supervisory operation is bigger than most people realize. Their systems now process over 56 million records daily, using AI to flag high-risk firms faster than any manual review could manage. Smart’s team is integrating data from both the legal and accountancy sectors into that pipeline, which basically gives the FCA a much wider lens on where organized crime might be embedding itself inside financial services.
The agency is also working toward what it calls “agentic supervision” — a model where technology handles more of the pattern recognition and routine monitoring. But Smart was clear that human judgment stays central. The AI finds the signals; people still make the calls. That’s probably the right balance for now, though the technology is moving fast.
The FCA’s multidisciplinary team includes nearly 400 practicing lawyers. That’s a serious in-house capability, and it’s going to matter a lot as the authority prepares for its next major expansion.
60,000 Legal and Accounting Firms Coming Into Scope
Here’s the big number. The FCA is set to take on anti-money laundering supervisory responsibilities for around 60,000 entities in the legal and accounting sectors. That’s a massive jump in scope, and the authority is building out sector-specific expertise to handle it. Smart acknowledged the scale of the task — these aren’t firms that look or behave like banks, and a one-size-fits-all approach won’t work.
The FCA has been engaging with Professional Body Supervisors in both sectors to understand the operational realities on the ground. The goal is to make sure anti-money laundering controls are actually calibrated to the specific risks each type of firm faces, rather than applying generic frameworks that don’t fit. Unclear yet exactly how that calibration will look in practice for smaller legal practices, but the intent seems genuine.
And it’s not just about adding oversight. The FCA is also trying to reduce unnecessary burden on the firms it already supervises. Transaction reporting adjustments are projected to save firms £100 million annually. That’s real money, and it frees up compliance teams to focus on the higher-risk work rather than drowning in low-value filings.
Smart was direct on one point: firms with strong standards and solid controls have nothing to fear. The FCA’s attention is on the bad actors, not on creating headaches for businesses doing things right.
The NCA’s data fusion program is another piece of the puzzle. It pulls banking data together with law enforcement intelligence to spot emerging threats earlier. Firms feeding suspicious transaction data into that system are, in effect, helping the whole network see further. It’s kind of a force multiplier — the more firms participate meaningfully, the sharper the picture gets for everyone trying to stop the money from moving.
Financial crime isn’t getting simpler. Cross-border flows, complex corporate structures, and increasingly sophisticated laundering techniques mean regulators everywhere are playing catch-up. The FCA’s push toward intelligence-led supervision, rather than box-ticking compliance checks, is probably the right direction. But the real test comes when those 60,000 new entities land in scope.
Smart’s broader message was that no single agency stops financial crime alone. Firms, law enforcement, regulators — they all have to move together. The FCA is betting that better data, better technology, and tighter partnerships get that done. The £100 million in projected annual savings for firms is the carrot. The enforcement machinery processing 56 million records a day is the stick.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the FCA’s new threshold for the Defence Against Money Laundering Suspicious Activity Report?
The FCA adjusted the threshold to £3,000, cutting down low-value reports so resources can focus on higher-risk activities.
How many entities will the FCA supervise in the legal and accounting sectors?
The FCA is preparing to take on anti-money laundering supervisory duties for around 60,000 entities in the legal and accounting sectors.
Why It Matters
The FCA's decision to expand the scope of financial crime oversight to an additional 60,000 entities underscores the increasing regulatory scrutiny facing the financial sector. This move is significant as it reflects a broader global trend toward enhanced compliance measures and greater collaboration between regulators and financial institutions, which could reshape operational practices and risk management strategies within the industry. As firms are urged to take a more proactive stance, this shift may lead to increased costs for compliance, impacting their overall profitability and potentially affecting market dynamics.
