IEA Senior Research Fellow Jamie Whyte has written for CapX discussing his new research arguing that overzealous anti-money laundering regulations have fuelled a surge in debanking.

Jamie wrote:

“In 2021/22, UK banks closed a total of 343,000 accounts, but rarely because of the customer’s political views. About half of these accounts were closed because banks couldn’t satisfy themselves that the customer was not laundering money.

“Some say it is better that 10 guilty men go free than one innocent man be punished. When it comes to money laundering, the UK government apparently believes it is better that 169 innocent people be punished than a single guilty man go free. And that twice as much should be spent on policing money laundering as is spent on policing all other crimes put together.”

Read Jamie’s full piece here.