RBS to advise UK police on financial crime.

FT: “RBS has signed a poacher-turned-gamekeeper agreement with the City of London Police to provide free training and advice on financial crime.”
“Police are keen to tap into RBS staff expertise in areas such as equities and markets, financial instruments, international jurisdictions, foreign languages and cybertechnology.
The move will surprise many because RBS, which is 81 per cent owned by the government, has many outstanding litigation issues. In its 2014 interim results, the bank published a long list that stretched to 17 pages, including suspected manipulation of foreign exchange markets and alleged mis-selling of US mortgage securities.
Officers insist any investigation into the bank will be kept separate from the new venture. The bank’s employees will also not be involved in police operations or advise on information relating to specific investigations.
In the US, the Securities and Exchange Commission hired experts from the banking industry to help fight cybercrime after the financial crisis, amid criticism that the regulator did not understand the banking system.
The RBS partnership with the City of London police, to be announced on Monday, comes amid growing concern about the rising cost of financial crime, which the police force estimates will exceed £73bn this year.
It reflects a recent drive to improve co-operation and to share more information between financial institutions and law enforcement authorities.
Banks are particularly worried about cybercrime after a series of high-profile attacks, such as that on JPMorgan Chase this year that resulted in the theft of names, addresses and other personal data from about 76m US households.
The City of London Police is involved in fighting economic crimes, ranging from insurance fraud or card payment fraud to bribery and corruption or rogue traders, such as its arrest of Kweku Adoboli at UBS. Its fraud squads often take the lead on cases across the country and internationally.
….The City of London Police has the UK’s biggest anti-fraud team, which is often involved in overseas operations, such as the raids this year in Spain, the UK, US and Serbia to arrest more than 100 people in an alleged “boiler-room” scam that duped people into buying fake or worthless shares.”