Banks 'infiltrated' by mafia gangs

Mafia style gangs are infiltrating UK banks to commit fraud, the chairman of the Financial Services Authority has warned.

Sir Callum McCarthy told a financial crime conference that criminals were getting jobs in the financial services sector in order to find ways around anti-fraud systems.

City of London police, as reported in The Times, said they had been investigating the problem for some time, but in the last two years the problem had grown worse. It has emerged that seven employees of Barclays Bank were being investigated for allegedly defrauding customers and the bank.

Two fraudsters were jailed in March for stealing nearly £200,000 from comic celebrity Ricky Gervais, but the bank insider was never identified.

The gangs have become more blatant in their methods recently, the police said, by approaching bank workers in their lunch breaks or on their way to work.