The Financial Conduct Authority has received 2,754 allegations of misconduct including fraud, money laundering and compliance complaints, according to data from the regulator’s annual report and accounts.

The allegations were provided by a total of 1,046 whistleblowers, according to analysis from a Parliament Street think tank. This compares with 1,100 whistleblowers in 2019/20.

Financial penalties of £189.8m were handed out over the year, alongside a number of prosecutions begun alleging insider dealing, investment fraud and money laundering.

According to the think tank, there are 184 individuals and firms under investigation for carrying out unauthorised business.

Only 15 of the reported cases led to ‘significant action’ to mitigate harm, which may have included enforcement action.

In a further 135 cases they took ‘action’ to mitigate harm, which included writing to or visiting a firm, requesting further information, or asking a firm to attest to compliance with the rules.

Some 145 cases were said to have helped inform the FCA's work and were relevant to the prevention of harm, but did not lead to any specific action; 97 cases were not considered relevant, and 654 cases were still being assessed at the time the report was published.

The FCA revealed it has strengthened its AML supervisions over the last year, becoming more data-led and drawing from a range of information sources. As a result, at the end of March 2021, the body said that it had increased the number of firms required to submit financial crime-related data.