On 26 October 2023, the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act received royal assent. The new law is designed to fight corruption, money laundering and fraud, and has major implications for businesses, including:
- The creation of a new "failure to prevent fraud"
offence, imposing criminal liability on large organisations for
wrongdoing committed by staff, agents and some third parties.
- Measures ensuring that businesses can be held criminally liable
for the actions of senior managers.
- A historic shake-up to Companies House with, inter
alia, identification checks soon to be required for company
directors and persons with significant control (see
McGuireWoods' previous alert "Companies House Reforms: The Economic Crime and
Corporate Transparency Bill"). The earliest Companies
House reforms are anticipated to come into force in early 2024,
with certain measures, such as identity verification, to be
implemented later via secondary legislation.
- Enhanced powers for law enforcement agents to seize, freeze, recover and convert crypto-assets.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
