The number of suspicious financial transactions reported to the authorities more than halved last year to 164,000, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Monday.

And the number of transactions which turned out to be problematic also fell ‘spectacularly’ from 54,605 to 32,100, the paper says, quoting figures due to be published later this week.
‘We have never had so few reports since 2002,’ said Hennie Kusters, head of the police unit which investigates suspicious deals involving large amounts of cash.
Banks, accountants and traders are all required by law to report financial transactions which are considered abnormal, such as a cash purchase involving more than €25,000. Some 90% of suspicious transactions involve money transfers.
Kusters said the reduction in reports could be due to the financial crisis or that banks and accountants are less vigilant in reporting cases.