The City of London Police’s Economic Crime Academy recently welcomed Standard Chartered Bank’s investigation managers from around the world to the Square Mile. Sixteen delegates, from London, UAE, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Kenya, and Nigeria, were in London for a fortnight to attend the academy’s new Investigative Techniques programme.
The learning has been designed as part of a partnership between the Economic Crime Academy, part of the National Policing Lead for Fraud, and Standard Chartered. The Academy has designed the curriculum to cover the investigative skills and strategies needed to tackle financial crime.
The programme has been approved by the Counter Fraud Professional Accreditations Board. Delegates passing get awarded ‘accreditated’ status and gain 40 educational credits that can be used in further studies with the University of Portsmouth. The Academy also is developing bespoke programmes to fit the needs of the financial sector with a footprint in the City of London. The Investigative Techniques Programme thus incorporates Standard Chartered’s policies and practices as well as practices directly relevant to their operations.
All those completing it will be awarded the status of Accredited Counter Fraud Specialist (International), and be entitled to use the letters ACFS(I) after their names.
Kathy Hearn, who is the Director of the Economic Crime Academy, said: “This course has been designed and developed in a way that is specifically tailored to the financial sectors needs. By the end of it all delegates will be in a much stronger position to investigate and prevent financial crime, wherever they work in the world. The need for these courses was recently highlighted when the British Crime Survey stated that there have been more than 5 million fraud offences in the past year across the UK. A proportion of these crimes will have been committed against the banking sector, which is why it is so vital that their staff are trained with the very latest fraud prevention techniques.”
And Michael Welch, Group Head of Shared Investigative Services at Standard Chartered said: “The bank is proud to be involved from the outset with the City of London Police’s innovative programme of counter fraud and core investigative technique training, which we expect will become the industry-wide standard of competence in investigations. By enhancing the knowledge and expertise of our investigators we recognise the practical benefits the initiative will offer globally for a wide range of investigations.”
