Professor Nicholas Ryder

Publication

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Research

My research has made an important contribution to addressing the evolving nature of financial crime and to the development of technological solutions that facilitate law enforcement in this globally connected space.   My research has contributed towards two REF Impact Case Studies and I have already developed a third in preparation for the REF 2028.

I have built an international reputation for excellence in policy-oriented research in financial crime.  This is reflected in the advisory roles I have played nationally (Home Office, Law Commission, the Nationwide, Security Intelligence Services, Transparency International, Corruption Watch and the All Parliamentary Group on Anti-Corruption & Responsible Tax) and internationally (NATO, United Nations, Cepol, Europol, Euromed Police, the Dutch Police, the France Telecom Group and the Law Reform Commission of Ireland). I was invited by the Law Commission to discuss my research on terrorism financing as part of their suspicious activity reports review, and was the only UK academic to be invited by the United Nations to contribute towards its ‘Stakeholders Consultation on Trafficking of Dangerous Substances through Exploitation of E-Wallet Services’.

I have submitted written evidence to national bodies which has been cited, quoted and recommendations adopted (see submissions to House of Commons Treasury Select Committee: March 2019; House of Lords Select Committee on the Bribery Act 2010: March 2019 House of Commons Treasury Select Committee: evidence published January 2021 and submission to HM Revenue and Customs June 2021).  In March 2021, I was invited by the Law Commission to assist with their investigation and consultation paper on Corporate Criminal Liability.

My work has been cited by the the United Nations, Sentencing Council, the Financial Conduct Authority, Public Safety Canada, the Law Commission (SARs Review), Law Commission (Discussion Paper on Corporate Economic Crime), Australian Law Reform Commission (Corporate Criminal Responsibility), HM Treasury, the European Parliament, the Independent Reviewer of UK Terrorism Legislation, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the House of Lords Select Committee on the Bribery Act 2010, the Scottish Select Affairs Committee, the Financial Services Authority and the Law Reform Commission of Ireland.

My reputation as a leading authority on financial crime was illustrated in March 2021, when I received the Themis ‘Strides Against Money Laundering’ award in recognition of my “innovative research and commitment to encouraging collaboration between academic and professional policy-making arenas”.

Current Research Projects

Terrorism Financing and Fraud

This research project presents evidence that terrorism financiers have used fraud to obtain funding, often without detection, and it identifies a new terrorism financing fraud typology.  This article identifies an authoritative terrorism financing fraud typology on how terrorists are financed rather than those typologies that have focused on identifying the victims of fraud. The use of this new typology will assist in improving our understanding of how terrorists raise and use money and so enable shedding a new light on the inadequacies of the United Kingdom’s counter-fraud and counter-terrorism financing reporting mechanisms. In doing so, it will highlight the deficiencies in the use of defence against terrorism financing suspicious activity reports and will make recommendations aimed at addressing these shortcomings.

Exchange of Information and Financial Crime

The resaerch paper begins by examining the international standards relating to information exchange, identifying its importance in relation to combatting money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud and tax evasion, by drawing on studies from the FATF, the European Union and the OECD. This section of the paper examines the results of the Financial Action Task Forces Fourth United Kingdom Mutual Evaluation Report, focusing on its conclusions in relation to the exchange of information between LEAs in the UK. The second section provides four case studies, which serve to illustrate the importance of information exchange and highlight flaws in the UK’s legal framework. The third section examines the legal framework enabling LEAs to obtain and exchange information for the purposes of preventing, detecting and combatting these four financial crimes. Considering this comprehensive analysis, the final section of the paper identifies the weaknesses inherent in the UK’s legal framework and provides recommendations for reform.

Higher Education Institutions and Money Laundering

This research project investigates the money laundering risks to which universities and their students are exposed, as well as how universities currently address these risks. The first section of the paper provides an overview of the research questions and the methodological approach employed. The second section provides a review of the limited existing literature relating to universities, their students, and financial crime, while the third section of the paper provides an assessment of the application of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) legislation to HEIs. The fourth section of the paper reports the measures currently taken by universities in response to AML/CTF threats. This section provides an analysis of the responses to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests received from 110 universities. The paper concludes that universities and their students are exposed to significant financial crime risks and makes a series of recommendations.

Research Funding

• P-I: StopSacms (Exchange of Informaiton and Fraud, £15,000, 2023)
• P-I: InnovakeUK (Transforming Suspicious Activity Reports, £490,000, 2022-2024)
• P-I: InnovateUK (Organised Crime, Fraud and Local Authorities, £268,000, 2022-2023)
• P-I: InnovateUK (Counter-terrorism financing, £490,000, 2021-2022)
• P-I: RUSI (£800, 2020)
• P-I: LexisNexis Risk Solutions (£10,000, 2018)
• Co-I: ESCR (Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats, £4.35m, 2015-2018).
• P-I: City of London Police (£10,000)
• P-I: France Telecom Group (£36,456)
• P-I: ICT Wilmington (£10,000)
• PI: European Social Fund (£761,000)

Teaching

I thrive on delivering high quality, interactive and research led teaching to all sizes of student groups.  I deliver a contemporary curriculum through ensuring that my latest research underpins my teaching, and that the module contents reflect current legal developments.  I have been invited to provide practical legal education (NATO, Cepol, Europol and several large financial institutions) and invited presentations to stakeholders (United Nations, FBI, Financial Action Task Force, the Home Office and the Security Intelligence Services).  The training materials, invited presentations and related research have been fully integrated into my teaching, thus, presenting the students with a practical/clinical legal educational experience. 

The module content for my teaching is consistently updated to reflect policy developments towards corporate financial crime, the association between the pandemic and fraud, the first corporate conviction for money laundering and the use of cryptoassets to fund terrorism.  I have arranged for external speakers on these topics to enhance the student learning experience.

I contribute towards teaching on the LLB (Financial Crime) and LLMs (Money Laundering and Financial Crime).

Biography

Academic Positions

• Professor in Financial Crime, UWE (2013-2022)
• Associate Professor, UWE (2008-2013)
• Senior Lecturer in Law, UWE (2005-2008)
• Lecturer in Law, UWE (2004-2005)
• Lecturer in Law, University of Glamorgan (1999-2004)

Editorial Positions

• Co-editor in Chief, Journal of Economic Criminology (2022-present)
• The Law of Financial Crime series for Routledge (2014-present)
• Co-editorship for Palgrave’s Studies in Risk, Crime and Society (2014-2017)
• Associate editorship Financial Regulation International (2008-2014)
• Editorial board Goode: Consumer Credit Law and Practice (2014-present)

Speaking engagements

Conference Papers (invited)

• ‘The latest developments and new risks in terrorist financing’, November 3 2023, Bocconi University, Milan, Italy.

• ‘Higher Education Institutions and Money Laundering’, International Payments Summit, 21^st November 2023, Birmingham.

• ‘Overview of the latest developments, new methodologies and new risks in terrorist financing’, Anti-Financial Crime, 8^th November 2023, London

•  ‘The impact of financial crimes in the United Kingdom’, Centre for Islamic Finance and Ernst&Young, Annual Financial Crime Seminar, 9^th Symposium, Thursday October 26 2023.

• ‘Higher Education Institutions and Money Laundering’, Charity Law and Policy Unit, Liverpool University, October 24 2023.

• ‘Artificial Intelligence and Financial Crime Prevention – Ethics, Risk, Trust and Integrity’, The rise of artificial intelligence – Combatting financial crime in a complex world event, Thursday 5 October 2023, London.

• 'Terrorism financing, fraud and organised crime – time for a joined-up approach? Portsmouth Law School Research Seminar Series, October 4 2023.

• ‘To exchange of not to exchange, that is the question?’, EUCTER Summer School, August 22 2023.

• ‘Terrorism financing, fraud and organised crime – time for a joined-up approach?’, 14th International Crime Science Conference, 9 June 2023, University College London.

• ‘To exchange or not to exchange, that is the question? A critical analysis of the use of financial intelligence and the exchange of information to tackle fraud and terrorism financing’, Manchester Centre for Law and Business Centre Seminar Series, Manchester University, 29 March 2023.‘Higher Education Institutions and Money Laundering’, Economic Crime in the Changing World: Winter Economic Crime Symposium 2023, Thursday 19th January 2023.

• ‘Impact of Russia Ukraine Conflict on Sanctions Regime’, 4th Financial Crime Summit Post-FATF Financial Crime Plan – Continuing the National Anti-Financial Crime Agenda, Saturday 14 January 2023.

• ‘Lessons learned in counter-terrorism financing’, 9th Annual Financial Crimes Summit, 14 December 2022.

• ‘To exchange or not to exchange? That is the question’, RISK, Governance, Risk and Compliance, Thursday 17 November 2022, London.

• ‘Emerging Financial Crime Threats’, Law Society of Northern Ireland, Intelligence Sharing and Expert Witness Group, Monday September 26 2022.

• ‘Higher Education Institutions and Money Laundering’, Wales Fraud Forum, 9th Annual Conference, Friday 23rd September 2022.

• ‘Does the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022 go far enough?’, Unexplained Wealth: A Global Perspective, Wednesday 29th June 2022, Global South Dialogue on Economic Crime.

• ‘Terrorism financing, tax fraud and the exchange of information – what did go wrong?’, June 24 2022, VIRTEU.

• ‘From Panama to Paradise: Does the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022 go far enough?’ Centre Business Law and Practice, April 26 2022, University of Leeds,

• Corporate Economic Crime in the United Kingdom – where will the Law Commission take us?, University of Bergamo.

• ‘Terrorism financing, fraud and organised crime – time for a joined up approach?’, 20 September 2021 V Kharkiv International Legal Forum.

• ‘The regulation of the consumer credit market: creditors and vulnerability? Time for the criminal law to step up’, 7th October 2021, Exeter University.

• ‘Terrorism financing, tax fraud and the exchange of information – what did go wrong?’, July 8th 2021, Bringing Stakeholders together, Addressing human and legal factors in tax compliance and enforcement in the EU and beyond, PROTAX

• ‘The financing of terrorism, financial intelligence and the exchange of information.  Is it time to follow the data and the money?’ June 15 2021, Changing landscape in the EU area of freedom, security and justice, Evolving trends and responses in terrorism financing, University of South Wales

• ‘Terrorism Financing and Fraud: The FATF’s Mutual Evaluation on the United Kingdom’, February 26 2021, The FATF Most compliant countries: lessons for non-compliant countries, University of Lincoln

• Terrorism financing and fraud, 10 February 2021, Counter Fraud, Compliance and Investigation Research Group (CFCI) Workshop Series at De Montfort University

• Terrorism financing and fraud – the unseen (seen) nexus? A broken policy and a series of missed opportunities, 16 December 2020, Terrorism in the Age of Technology – terrorism financing in the crime terror nexus, Jean Monnet Network on EU Counter-Terrorism, University of South Wales

• Counter-terrorist financing, cryptoassets, social media platforms and suspicious activity reports: a step into the regulatory unknown, presented at Bringing together, December 3 2020, Financial Crime World Forum

• Counter-terrorist financing, cryptoassets, social media platforms and suspicious activity reports: a step into the regulatory unknown, presented at Bringing together experts from academia and industry to talk about the regulation of cryptocurrency, VFAs and the virtual token ecosystems, Aston University, 16 September 2020

• Economic Crime – past, present and future. In: Examining Priorities, Methodologies and Capacity for Economic Crime Research in the UK, Royal United Services Institute, 25 February 2020

• The Fifth Money Laundering Directive - a step too far? Presented at Beyond Borders: Redefining International Taxation, Barcelona, 15 October 2019

• Crypto-Assets and Terrorism Financing. In: The 19th Nationwide Financial Crime Conference, Marriot Hotel, Swindon, September 25 2019

• Predatory lending and consumer protection in the United Kingdom: time for a frank conversation. In: Global Consumer Lives: ‘(Vulnerable) consumers or citizens?: is there a correct rationale for a fairer access to justice?, Brunel University, Tuesday 10 July 2018

• Terrorism Financing: Current Issues and Challenges. In: PwC and Lexis Nexis Risk Solutions Breakfast Seminar on Lone Wolf Attacks, London, June 12 2018

• ‘The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: a critical review of its response to money laundering and terrorist financing’. In: Turbulence in the Kingdom – financial crime risks in Saudi Arabia, Aperio Intelligence, London, September 20 2017

• Terrorist financing via social media: a step into the regulatory unknown? In: CREST Annual Conference 2017, Reading, 12 September 2017

• Market manipulation challenges and responses in the United Kingdom, European Union and the United States. In: Timeliness and timelessness-Corporate governance and regulatory challenges after the financial crisis of 2007-2009 and Brexit, Liverpool, England, 28 September 2017

• Corporate Liability for Economic Crime – merely window dressing or a statement of intent. In: 17th Annual Conference of the European Society of Criminology, Cardiff, September 14 2017

• The financial war on terrorism and Islamic State of Iraq and Levant. In: Sussex Crime Research Centre: Research Seminar, University of Sussex, Thursday March 9 2017

Supervisions

Supervision Subjects

I am interested in supervising PhD students in the areas of:

• Terrorism Financing
• Fraud
• Money Laundering
• Corporate Ecomomic Crime
• Bribey and Corruption
• Cyber Crime/Security (Economic Crime related)
• Market Manipulation
• Corporate Governance (Economic Crime related)
• Tax Evasion

Current supervision

Marina Aristodemou

Research student

Thomas Burgess

Research Student/Graduate Tutor

Salman Aljawder

Research student

Chinelo Bob-Osamor

Graduate Tutor

Georgia Bufton

Research student

Amber Egan

Research student

Domi Benton

Research student

Yuyun Ma

Research student

Past projects

Past Projects

Successful PhD Completions

2024

• Monika Baronak-Atkins ‘A critical and comparative analysis of the Criminal Finances Act 2017 (Part 1) and the application of law and enforcement in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia in particular in relation to Unexplained Wealth Orders’ (2024)

2023

• Andrew Baker ‘Why Regulate at all? A critical analysis of the rationale and effectiveness of UK bank Regulation’ (2023)
• Diana Johnson ‘A critical and comparative analysis of the role of competition law in relation to the regulation and enforcement of financial crime in the United Kingdom, European Union and the United States of America’ (2023)

2022

• Veerendra Chauhan ‘Illicit financial flows – the link between corruption and money laundering, a socio-legal study of the laws and practices in the United Kingdom and Nigeria'

2021

• Samantha Bourton ‘A Critical and Comparative Analysis of the Prevention of Tax Evasion through the Application of Law and Enforcement Policies in the United Kingdom and United States of America’
• Komrich Silathong ‘Financial intelligence units and the prevention of money laundering – a comparative analysis of financial intelligence units in the United Kingdom, Singapore and Thailand’
• Henry Hillman ‘Money Laundering through Cryptocurrencies: Analysing the responses of the United States and Australia and providing recommendations for the UK to address the money laundering risks posed by cryptocurrencies’
• Georgina Webb, ‘A critical assessment of international legislative measures towards combating terrorist financing over the internet with primary focus on appropriateness and effectiveness’
• Hiep Duong, ‘Rethinking Vietnamese Corporate Rescue Law under Perspectives of England and Canada’

2020

• Anneleise Williams, ‘An analysis of the cross-examination of complainants and defendants within rape trials’
• Ed Johnston, ‘The Defence Lawyer in the Modern Era’

2018

• Rachel Thomas, ‘Counter-terrorist financing and its impact on the right to fair trial: A comparative study of the U.S, U.K. and Canada’

2015

• Lachmi Singh-Rodriguez, ‘The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods 1980 (CISG). An examination of the buyer’s remedy of avoidance under the CISG: how is the remedy interpreted, exercised and what are the consequences of avoidance?’
• Axel Palmer, ‘A critique of the counter economic crime regime in the United Kingdom, with reference to the United States of America and Australia’

2008

• Omar Al-Hyari, ‘Challenging Arbitral Awards under the Model Law and Arab and English laws based thereon