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 2023 and there is no denying it is ambitious.
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