Officials from The Treasury are hoping to illustrate the UK has improved when it comes to preventing financial crime, following its 2018 assessment by the global crime watchdog - the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which fuelled allegations that London had become a hub for “dirty money.”

The call for evidence said: “To build the strongest possible picture of system-wide effectiveness, we are looking for real-life examples with clear, demonstrable results that illustrate how the UK’s anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing and sanctions frameworks operate effectively in practice.”

The Guardian reports that ministers are rushing to collect examples to submit as part of the UK’s evidence pack to the FATF in October, ahead of the watchdog’s on-the-ground review next summer.

Ministers and officials will have to prove the City has made substantial changes and are staying alert to new threats including AI-fuelled investment fraud, and the growing usage of cryptocurrencies, which can help shield the source of transactions.

The National Crime Agency estimated, last year, that £100bn was being laundered through or within the UK every year, with City firms providing financial and legal services for human traffickers, fraudsters, drug traffickers and more. The UK’s national risk assessment on money laundering and terrorist financing also classed the UK legal sector as “high risk” for every one of its assessments since 2017.

Moody’s rating agency published a report earlier this year stating: “As the UK approaches its next FATF mutual evaluation in 2027, the pressure on its anti-money laundering (AML) regime is intensifying. Billions are spent each year in the UK on supervision with hundreds of firms refused entry to the financial system following due diligence, yet an estimated £100bn is still laundered annually.”

Moody’s added: “When FATF examiners arrive in the UK, they may ask how much of that risk is really being reduced by the UK’s controls, intelligence and enforcement, and how quickly.”

The FATF will allow the UK government to submit its own evidence, outlining how the country effectively handles and prevents money laundering and other financial crime.

Treasury officials want City firms to share any cases from 2022 onwards showing how they dumped, or refused, potentially high-risk clients, on top of cases where companies’ intervention led to a state probe or prosecution.

Companies were also asked for examples of where they discovered red flags for financial crime in customer profiles, and how this changed the types of clients they were willing to take on.

A Treasury spokesperson said: “We take firm and coordinated action across government and industry to crack down on economic crime. We have introduced new strategies, enhanced enforcement capabilities and increased funding designed to disrupt those seeking to abuse the UK economy.

“As you would expect, the government regularly engages with industry on this - and preparations for the FATF assessment in 2027 are no different.”