The level of known defrauding by the international financial community is rising fast and set to take a further leap in London on the back of Big Bang.
That's according to analysts in Lloyd's insurance market, the only body which receives accurate reports on almost all significant instances of financial wrong-doing.
"The loss exposures have been appalling," said Peter Battle, an underwriter for Merrett Underwriting Agency, one of the leading insurers of banking fraud risk worldwide.
Gregory Collins, who handles bank fraud policies for insurance brokers Hogg Robinson, out it this way: "It's not just the frequency of claims that has grown, it's their size which is so astonishing. In 1976 a large loss would have been 3 to 5 million[pounds]. Now it's something like 90 to 100 million [pounds]."
While insurers have a vested interest to paint a bleak picture, interviews conducted by Euromoney, with a wide range of specialists confirmed the opinions of the insurers. The Director of Public Prosecutions, the UK prosecuting authority, has revealed that those serious allegations of fraud that are reported to it have doubled since 1983.
The greatest, perhaps unwitting allies of fraudsters are banks.