Hammond will use this week’s G7 and IMF meetings in Washington to urge the international community to refine its approach to tackling corruption, which is estimated to cost the global economy $2.6 trillion (£1.8 trillion).

The Chancellor is promoting three measures: securing G7 agreement on denying North Korean access to finance; a call on the IMF to target global corruption; and an increase in funding for the Treasury’s sanctions team.

Hammond said: ‘My priority is to secure international agreement on how to tackle dirty money. We must shine a light into the darkest corners of global finance, crack down on corrupt cash and ensure that as terrorists and criminals become ever more sophisticated, the international community stays one step ahead.’

The UK is supporting a recent G7 finance ministers agreement that calls for a crackdown on North Korean illicit finance which aims to stop access to the international financial system via a back door of bogus companies and artificial ownership structures.

The Chancellor wants the IMF to use its existing Article IV assessment more widely to target corruption, and announced that the UK would be one of the first to volunteer for this new level of scrutiny.

Hammond also said the size of the Treasury’s sanctions unit is to increase by almost 20% to nearly 40 people, while the Office for Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) will work closely with other members of the department to focus on breaches and investigations.

Advice from OFSI for businesses about how to manage risk over North Korean sanctions is here: https://ofsi.blog.gov.uk/2018/03/01/north-korea-proliferation-and-compli...

The G7 finance ministers agreement on North Korea sanctions is here.

Report by Pat Sweet