LONDON, March 11, 2024 - Moody's has today released new data highlighting a significant rise in modern slavery incidents and money laundering activities throughout Europe from 2018 to 2023. The data comes from Moody’s Grid database, a vast collection of information sources mentioning incidents of money laundering and modern slavery. These incidents could relate to accusations of crime, all the way through to convictions and sentencing.
Moody’s data shows that incidents of modern slavery increased by nearly 17% from 2022 to 2023 – rising from 18,335 to 21,626. This upward trend is a strong increase compared to the figure of 10,277 in 2018.
Italy persistently exhibited the highest number of modern slavery events with approximately 32,000 incidents over five years from 2018. Following Italy are France and Spain with around 18,000 and 13,000 events, respectively. In the UK, instances have almost doubled from approximately 12,500 to 24,000 over the same period.
Accompanying the uptick in modern slavery, money laundering activities across Europe saw a 25% increase year on year from 2018 to 2023. This rate is 8% higher than the global increase. The UK has the most money laundering activity in Europe, responsible for 29% of reported incidents, followed by Italy with 16% and Russia with 12%.
The analysis identified human trafficking as the predominant underlying crime for money laundering, connected to over 10% of cases flagged by Moody’s.
"The Infinite Game", a new documentary by Moody's, dives further into the persistent threat that financial crime presents to legitimate organisations, exposing the innovative methods used by bad actors to launder money. It features a range of industry experts and journalists highlighting specific instances, as well as the impact such crime has on society.
Keith Berry, General Manager of Know Your Customer Solutions at Moody's Analytics, said “The data emphasises the complex challenges organisations currently face and underscores the need for rigorous due diligence. Almost all criminal activity is done for money, which in turn means there is an entire service industry based around legitimising the funds bad actors have gained through crimes like modern slavery. Compliance teams are tasked with tackling both the highly motivated criminals involved with this sector, as well as the legitimate entities that have been exploited by these actors.
“There is a concerning link between human trafficking and the facilitation of money laundering. Financial crime is growing increasingly complex and interconnected with other forms of crime. This is an expanding environment that is always looking for vulnerabilities in the financial system, on weekends, holidays, and every day when legitimate staff are not online to protect their organisation. Governments, corporates, and all organisations need robust modern due diligence to protect against money laundering and help prevent the illicit activity it enables."
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