Does the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 work hard enough to promote good corporate governance? Tom Forster KC and Katie Bacon discuss
- An in-depth discussion of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, which extends the ambit of criminal liability for corporates, and imposes on large organisations a ‘failure to prevent’ fraud duty.
- Sets out the background to the Act and discusses its scope, asking if it is performative law-making or a driver for real change.
Economic crime is prevalent in society today. According to the Office for National Statistics, fraud accounted for an estimated 60% of the main crime types experienced by adults in the year ending June 2023. The National Crime Agency’s assessment is that it is a realistic possibility that over £100bn is laundered every year through the UK or through UK corporate structures using money-laundering methods.
The government’s response, in part, has been the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA 2023). It received Royal Assent on 26 October
