Grant Thornton launches Financial Crime and Disputes

Accounting and consulting firm Grant Thornton has last month announced the launch of a new dedicated Financial Crime and Disputes team in the UK. The new practice area will be part of the Forensic Investigation and Recovery team, working closely alongside the Financial Services Advisory Group.

Over the past years, the volume and cost of financial crime has – mainly as a result of the increasing digitisation and professionalisation of cyber criminals – strongly increased. In particular the financial services market and other sectors that are typically vulnerable to fraud, such as retail, are severely impacted by financial crime. As a result, the topic has rapidly developed into one of the key disciplines for management teams across the globe. “Financial crime remains one of the key agenda points for regulators, enforcement agencies and financial institutions across the world. The increasing pressure of regulation and enforcement, set against a dynamically changing financial services market, means that all manner of financial institutions - and many other industry sectors too - are exposed to financial crime risk," says Marcus McCaffrey, Partner and Head of Financial Crime and Disputes at Grant Thornton in the UK.

Against this backdrop, the demand for advisory and support services in the field has lately grown steeply; according to analyst firm Kennedy, Digital Forensics belongs to one of the fastest growing segments within the consulting industry. For Grant Thornton, one of the larger professional services firms in the market, the combination of client demand and attractive market conditions left the firm with an easy decision to make. As of last month it has launched a dedicated Financial Crime and Disputes practice, aimed at helping clients in the financial services sector with mitigating and remediating issues relating to financial crime and complex disputes. The new unit draws on Grant Thornton’s existing experience in forensic and investigation services and international capabilities available within the firm.

Peter Allen, Partner and Head of Financial Services Advisory at Grant Thornton, comments: “This is an important step forward in further building our comprehensive offer to the financial services market and addressing the financial crime and disputes concerns of our clients. Feedback from the market so far has been extremely positive and we're confident the team will help continue to drive the fantastic growth we've experienced over the past few years, whilst further enhancing the firm's reputation for, and experience in, developing the innovative, best-in-class client solutions our clients require.”