03:42 PM EDT, 07/26/2024 (MT Newswires) -- (Updates with details about participating banks and the UK's Financial Conduct Authority's role in the fourth paragraph.)

NatWest Group ( NWG ) and Banco Santander (SAN), together with Barclays ( JJCTF ) and several other financial firms, have been partnering with law enforcement 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 said Friday.

Spokespersons at NatWest ( NWG ), Santander and Barclays ( JJCTF ) confirmed to MT Newswires their company's participation in the project organized by the UK's National Crime Agency 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 and is slated to run through October, the NCA said in a statement.

The other companies partnering with the trial project are Lloyds Banking Group ( LYG ) , TSB, Metro Bank and Starling Bank. The UK's Financial Conduct Authority also has been taking part in the program in an observational capacity, the NCA said in an email to MT Newswires.

The banks 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 NCA 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.

Representatives from Lloyds, TSB, Metro Bank and Starling Bank did not respond to messages from MT Newswires seeking comment about their participation on Friday.

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