New report on the scope of financial crime

Vista Analyse has, on behalf of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, conducted a comprehensive scope survey of successful financial crime targeted at Norwegian municipalities, as well as public and private businesses.

The final report is available here (in Norwegian).

The purpose of the project is to gain better knowledge about the real extent of financial crime, i.e., registered crime and unreported incidents. The survey maps perceptions of the crime situation within different industries and concrete victim experiences, either committed by own employees or people outside the enterprise. The survey shows that approximately 10 per cent of public and private businesses were exposed to at least one of the forms of financial crime included in the survey.

There is a big difference between large and small businesses. Among businesses with fewer than five employees, 9 per cent state that they have been the victim of one or more cases of financial crime. The corresponding figure for businesses with five employees or more is 17 per cent. Businesses within the sector of banking and insurance are far more exposed than other businesses. Few municipalities, about 14 per cent, report being exposed to financial crime. If they are exposed, it is mainly fraud they are exposed to.

Other research shows that attempts to commit financial crime are on the rise. At the same time, our survey shows that the proportion who succeed is stable. When the proportion of attempts at financial crime is high and increasing, while the proportion of crime that succeeds remains stable, it is reasonable to assume that businesses have become more skilled at preventing and protecting. It seems that the businesses have increased their knowledge and competence on financial crime, and that their vulnerability has been reduced through new standards and norms. Furthermore, businesses seem to have adopted digitalization as a tool to reduce the risk of being exposed.

However, businesses, in cooperation with the police, have a great potential for improvement when it comes to reporting. Only 15 per cent of offences are reported to the police, and although it should not be a goal that everything is reported, this proportion is very low.