This week saw the government's long-awaited introduction of a proposed new offence of "failure to prevent fraud" in amendments to the existing Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill.
The new legislation will be of interest to in-house lawyers at financial institutions. It is intended to protect the public from a wide range of harms, including dishonest sales practices, false accounting and hiding important information from consumers or investors. The government has issued a press release, stating that the new offence could also hold companies to account for dishonest practices in financial markets and quotes the current Director of the Serious Fraud Office, Lisa Osofsky, as saying that the offence would be a "game changer" for law enforcement, helping them "crack down on fraudulent enterprises, compensate their victims and ultimately protect the integrity of our economy".
Our Corporate Crime & Investigations colleagues have prepared a briefing looking at the newly proposed offence and its key elements. Please read the full briefing here.
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