The Relevance of White Collar Criminology to Financial Services Regulation

Most financial services regulators and compliance professionals are familiar with the term ‘white collar crime’, and may have encountered white collar criminals or examples of white collar crime while carrying out their regulatory responsibilities. However, the majority of regulatory or compliance professionals are unlikely to be familiar with the origins of the white collar crime label or the specialist subject area of criminology. This paper provides a short explanation of the origins of the white collar crime debate, then briefly considers some of the dilemmas that are shared by white collar criminologists and regulatory professionals, before detailing some areas in which criminological research may have relevance for financial services regulation.