12:47 PM EDT, 07/26/2024 (MT Newswires) -- NatWest Group ( NWG ) and Banco Santander (SAN), together with several other financial institutions, have been partnering with law enforcement authorities in the UK in a new crackdown on money laundering and other economic crimes by analyzing and sharing certain customer information with authorities, the banks and the UK's National Crime Agency said Friday.

Spokespersons at NatWest ( NWG ), Santander and Barclays ( JJCTF ) confirmed their company's participation in this project organized by the NCA but declined to provide more details.

A total of seven bank organizations were participating in the voluntary data-sharing program, which went live in May, the NCA said.

The program is slated to run through October, according to a Reuters report, which identified Lloyds Banking Group ( LYG ) , TSB Bank, Metro Bank and Starling Bank as the other institutions working with NCA in the program.

The banks working with the NCA designed the data-sharing program to protect legitimate banking activity and will only pass along account data after identifying multiple clear indicators of economic crime, the agency said.

Information shared through the new program also has helped direct NCA resources to new subjects of interest and lines of inquiry, with investigators now evaluating at least eight groups for possible criminal activity after receiving about 90 intelligence "packages" from the banks, the agency added.

Lloyds, TSB Bank, Metro Bank and Starling Bank did not immediately respond to requests for comment by MT Newswires.

NCA did not immediately respond to an email from MT Newswires seeking additional information, including the identity of the other banks involved with its program.

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