E80: De-banked SMEs: How 140,000 small businesses ended up on a banking blacklist

The Laundry

Some pretty shocking statistics surfaced recently from an enquiry by the UK’s Treasury Committee looking into access to finance.

Obtaining data from eight UK banks - the committee found that more than 140,000 accounts held by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were forcibly closed in the past year.

Following hot on the heels of the Nigel Farage Coutts drama – as well as the country’s recent dip into a recession – these figures raise concerns about how the backbone of the UK economy is being served by the banking industry.

So is this a real issue? Or a storm in a teacup?

In the latest episode of The Laundry – our expert host, Marit Rødevand, is joined by James Nurse, Managing Director of Fintrail, and Neil Donovan, Senior Associate at Ashurst,

The panel discuss: Why thousands of businesses are being de-banked, the legitimacy of compliance concerns raised by banks, and how we make the system better at spotting bad actors and front organisations.

Producer: Matthew Dunne-Miles

Engineers: Dominic Delargy, Nicholas Thon

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The Laundry podcast: Dive deep into the intricacies of financial crime, AML (anti-money laundering), compliance, sanctions, and the ever-evolving landscape of financial regulation.

Hosted by Marit Rødevand and Fredrik Riiser – this podcast features renowned experts from banking, fintech, compliance, and investigative journalism.

Together, they shed light on the industry's trending topics, analyse mainstream news through a compliance-focused lens, and connect the fight against financial crime to its real-world consequences and ramifications.

The Laundry is proudly produced by Strise, an AML Automation Cloud.

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