Could a Bernard Madoff fraud happen in the UK?
As the Madoff situation continues to roll on there is concern that a similar type of fraud could happen in the UK market. Weaknesses in the regulatory environment have been highlighted since the banking sector began to crumble and many people believe there are a number of potential frauds and criminal activities waiting to be discovered. Only recently we saw a massive mortgage fraud which resulted in a number of arrests and many experts believe this is literally just the tip of the iceberg.
Thankfully, the problems in the US have alerted UK regulators to be signs of similar Madoff type fraud situations and there is a growing belief that regulators in the UK will take sufficient action in the short to medium term to reduce the chances of these happening. Those who suggest that frauds can be eliminated from any market are kidding themselves because where fear and greed is evident there is the makings of potentially fraudulent and criminal activity.
While we have yet to see any frauds in the UK of similar size to the Madoff situation, as we suggested above, there is a suspicion that we may see more fraudulent activity discovered in the short to medium term as regulators start a serious clampdown.
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