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Compliance officers are those specifically employed in financial services companies to ensure compliance with the legal requirements imposed by the Financial Services Act 1986, and other relevant legislation. This paper discusses the perceptions of a sample group of compliance officers of the relative seriousness of specific criminal acts involving dishonesty and the implications for the effective regulation of the financial services industry. The data were gathered during research for the degree of Master of Arts in Police Studies at the University of Exeter.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the attitudes of financial service compliance officers towards the provision of practical training in specific aspects of regulatory development, criminal law and procedure which have a significant impact upon their role and function as compliance officers. The paper starts by considering the qualifications of financial service compliance officers, before setting out the aims and contents of a three‐day course designed for compliance officers. After describing the attendees on the course, it gives their assessment of the course and examines their attitudes to what is the proper role of the financial service compliance office.

In this paper, the author traces the historical evolution of the use of methods by the police and the executive to undermine the protective effects of the right to silence. He argues that the introduction of greater protections for accused persons in the provisions of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 has resulted in an increase in costs of the administration of summary jurisdiction with the commensurate reduction in the numbers of persons being convicted. Hence political initiatives are being undertaken to find an effective way to remove the effects of the right to silence, contained in these protections. He examines the effects of the so‐called s. 2 powers to compel answers to questions, possessed by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO). The paper ends by examining the proposals in the recent Report of the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice and argues that the recommendation to extend the exercise of s. 2 powers to the police is merely another step towards the introduction of an increasingly authoritarian regime of criminal justice.

The author examines the implications of the extraterritoriality provisions contained within the US Money Laundering Control Act 1986 and considers the impact that they have on financial practitioners and those who do business, either in the United States or with United States citizens.

The author examines the historical and political background to the creation of the Securities and Exchange Commission, identifying the use made by its architects of earlier English company legislation to define its regulatory remit; before making a detailed evaluation of its structure and powers. The paper continues by setting out the major procedural functions of the Commission before ending with a comparative analysis of its regulatory functions and effectiveness.

While researching a recent money‐laundering compliance project, it became clear that, even after three years of practical exposure to the Money Laundering Regulations, there was still a disparate cross‐section of attitudes towards the law and its implementation, among those men and women appointed to the role of Money Laundering Reporting Officers (MLROs). Recognising that it is the responsibility of these individuals, to ensure a willing and uniform compliance with the law on behalf of their employing institutions, it was felt that the time was right to conduct a survey, not of their direct understanding of the Regulations, of which it was accepted they would all have a good knowledge; but of their appreciation of some of the peripheral aspects of the rapidly developing impact of international money‐laundering law. The aim was to examine their attitudes towards specific aspects of ensuring the provision of good compliance, and to ascertain whether there were any other areas of compliance in which further training was particularly identified as being necessary.

A few years ago, I was instructed to act in the defence of an ambitious but remarkably naive assistant bank manager who was being investigated for the part he had played in facilitating a prime bank instrument fraud. This poor chap had unwittingly become the victim of a team of highly professional, international bank fraudsters who specialised in the creation of fraudulent bank paper. He had been approached with offers of substantial deposits to be made with his bank, in return for which the fraudsters wanted to be provided with guarantee letters. Naturally, the young manager was delighted to be able to assist and he provided them with every assistance. Just as they were leaving the con men asked him if he could provide them with a brief letter setting out the terms of the potential agreement and indicating the conditions under which such guarantees would be given.

In this article, the author begins by restating the theory of criminogenesis which he first examined in an earlier article that dealt with the activities of the futures and derivatives markets. He then extends the theory of criminal potential by examining the conduct of those who work within the Life Assurance and Pensions industry, with particular emphasis on the marketing of personal pensions, and attempts to show that such activity can properly be defined as ‘organised crime’.