The Financial Conduct Authority and fraud police will examine allegations that Britain’s high street banks processed nearly $740m from a vast money laundering operation run by Russian criminals, a Treasury minister has told MPs.Simon Kirby, the economic secretary to the Treasury, said the government would pursue anyone seeking to abuse the financial system but also claimed the UK was doing more than any other country to tackle money laundering.“The Financial Conduct Authority and National Crime Agency take any such allegations seriously and will investigate closely whether recent information from the Guardian newspaper regarding money laundering from Russia … would allow the progression of an investigation. Beyond that we need to make sure sophisticated criminal networks cannot exploit our financial services industry,” Kirby said.(the guardian)…[+]