Specialist anti-money laundering firm SmartSearch has reported record annual growth. The rapid expansion has been driven by a surge in demand for its online identity verification and due diligence platform.

The Yorkshire-based company increased business by 23% during 2021, with turnover year-on-year rising from £11.8m to £14.5m. During that period, subscribers grew from 5,012 to 5,874., and the number of employees nearly doubled, increasing from 109 to 181.

Managing director Martin Cheek said: “These record results for 2021 come in the context of a 77% increase in turnover at SmartSearch over the past three years.

“This growth reflects a surge in demand for our state-of-the-art technology, especially from regulated companies, as they seek an effective solution to the dramatic rise in attempted fraud and money laundering since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We are now focusing on building upon this growth, and SmartSearch’s strategy for moving the business forward will be driven by our new CEO Guy Harrison, who has joined us from Dow Jones.”