The Financial Services Authority’s proposal to triple the fines it levies for financial crimes could not have come at a more opportune time – for sociologists.

Last week, the Serious Fraud Office was called in to investigate what is feared to be the worst fraud to hit the UK fund management industry in 20 years, and auditors BDO Stoy Hayward announced that UK corporate fraud losses had reached their highest six-month level since it began tracking them in 2003. Experts expect financial fraud to rise sharply, as the recession continues to bite. The 2001 dotcom crash and associated recession uncovered an extraordinary wave of US corporate fraud and a string of misbehaviour by banks and brokers. There is every reason to expect something similar this time around.