Banks could provide critical intervention to stop UK offenders who pay for livestreamed child sexual abuse overseas, the National Crime Agency (NCA) has said.
For the first time, the NCA has worked with financial institutions, through their Public Private Partnerships unit, to show how banks can identify possible child sexual abuse (CSA) livestreaming payments and help law enforcement to stop the ongoing abuse of a child.
With the UK as one of the worst offenders for facilitating child abuse through livestreaming overseas, the NCA has been sharing real case examples and live investigations with private sector members to identify and understand patterns of behaviour and transaction history.
And today (Monday 18 May), at an event held in partnership with Natwest Group, the NCA’s Director General (Threats) Steve Rodhouse launched an alert for financial institutions to highlight this offending, encouraging them to build processes to detect livestreaming payments on their platforms.
The event encouraged banks to proactively detect potential child sexual abuse offenders through their financial patterns, investigate transactions they believe could be funding livestreamed child sexual abuse, and help law enforcement in monitoring Sexual Harm Prevention Orders (SHPOs).
These often include restrictions on the number of bank accounts held, bans on international money transfers or travel abroad. This type of initiative demonstrates how everyone - including industry - has a role to play in protecting children, but also an example of how the NCA will explore every opportunity to disrupt offenders and bring them before the courts.
Livestreamed CSA offences have grown in recent years and involve criminals paying facilitators overseas, often in the Philippines, to abuse children in the country on a live feed to their device. In many cases, UK offenders direct the abuse through video.
Earlier this month, 37-year-old Jamie Beckett was sentenced to 23 years after being convicted of sexual abuse offences involving seven children. Beckett offered to send the facilitator in the Philippines cash for medical appointments, electricity and WiFi in exchange for images and videos of child abuse.
The payments ranged from as little as £6.20 to a maximum of £187 per request and in a two-year period, Beckett had exchanged almost 9,500 messages and 356 media files with the facilitator.
Under the new initiative, banks will be provided guidance and advice to identify transactions to stop offenders like Beckett earlier and safeguard children no matter where they are located.
Steve Rodhouse, Director General (Threats) at the National Crime Agency, said: “We must not shy away from what this livestreaming of abuse means. It is a practice whereby, mainly, men in the UK pay to watch the rape and sexual abuse of children overseas. It is serious crime and it is right that the NCA works with partners across the financial industry to put an end to this horrendous criminality.
“Offenders in the UK who view livestreamed child sexual abuse from overseas may also pose a risk to children in the UK. These are rarely isolated offences – criminals will often also have downloaded large volumes of child sexual abuse material and may also directly abuse children themselves.
“Behind every instance of livestreamed child sexual abuse is an exchange of money and a financial footprint. Every time this happens, there is an opportunity for offences to be prevented and children to be protected.”
While the NCA has worked with the private sector on traditional economic crime threats, such as fraud and money laundering investigations, this is the first time we have worked with the finance industry on the threat of child sexual abuse.
Mr Rodhouse added: “The NCA works internationally and borders are not barriers for us pursuing those committing offences against children, wherever they are in the world.
“This is another way we can strengthen our approach to tackling child sexual abuse. We look forward to continuing our work with the finance industry and take opportunities to stop offenders earlier.”
Marcus Wogart, Director of non-financial risk, NatWest Group, said: “Banks and payment service providers can play an important role in combating livestreamed child sexual abuse. This work demonstrates the power of public private partnerships. By bringing together financial insight from industry with law enforcement intelligence, we can strengthen detection, improve reporting and meaningfully disrupt those responsible.”
18 May 2026
