A further twist in the potential creation of a failure to prevent economic crime offence: last week a cross-party group of Members of Parliament tabled an amendment to the Financial Services Bill which, as drafted, would hold bodies “authorised or registered by the Financial Conduct Authority” liable for fraud, false accounting and money laundering offences committed by their employees. Continue reading
Tag: Corporate Crime
The Australian Combatting Corporate Crime Bill: What does it mean for companies?
The Crimes Legislation Amendment (Combatting Corporate Crime) Bill (the Combatting Corporate Crime Bill) will be the most significant shake up of Australia’s anti-corruption landscape for companies since the foreign bribery offence was introduced in 1999. Continue reading
Ministry of Justice publishes its Response to the Call for Evidence on Corporate Liability for Economic Crime
On 3 November 2020, the Ministry of Justice published its response (the “Government’s Response”) to its Call for Evidence on corporate liability for economic crime which was launched in January 2017 and ran until March 2017 (the “Call for Evidence”). The Government’s Response has been long awaited but does not reach any definitive conclusion on the way forward for reform. Continue reading
Airbus and SFO enter into UK’s largest Deferred Prosecution Agreement
On 31 January 2020, Dame Victoria Sharp, the President of the Queen’s Bench Division sitting in the Crown Court in Southwark, approved the Deferred Prosecution Agreement (“DPA”) between the UK Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”) and Airbus S.E. (“Airbus”), the ultimate parent company of the Airbus Group. Under the DPA, Airbus must pay €990,963,712 to the SFO — the largest UK DPA financial settlement to date and greater than the combined total of all previous financial settlements under UK DPAs.
Corporate Crime update – December 2019
Welcome to the December 2019 edition of our corporate crime update – our round up of developments in relation to corruption, money laundering, fraud, sanctions and related matters.
Hong Kong SFC’s new electronic data requirements place MICs and cloud services in the spotlight
On 31 October 2019, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) published a circular (Circular) on the use of electronic data storage providers (EDSPs) by licensed corporations (LCs).
HKMA to monitor industry’s progress in preparing for transition from IBORs to ARRs
In a circular issued to authorised institutions (AIs) on 23 October 2019, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) indicated that it will conduct a regular survey to collect information on AIs’ exposures referencing interbank offered rates (IBORs) and their progress in preparing for transition to alternative reference rates (ARRs). Depending on the survey results, the HKMA will take appropriate follow up action.
SFC and CSRC agree to commence preparations for Stock Connect southbound investor ID regime
The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) have reached a consensus to commence preparations for an investor identification regime for southbound trading of the Mainland-Hong Kong Stock Connect (Stock Connect).
Corporate Crime update – Autumn 2019
Welcome to the Autumn 2019 edition of our corporate crime update – our round up of developments in relation to corruption, money laundering, fraud, sanctions and related matters. This bumper edition covers a number of jurisdictions, and includes content from the summer break.
Hong Kong SFC publishes licensing conditions for virtual asset fund managers
On 4 October 2019, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) published proforma terms and conditions which will apply to virtual asset fund managers that meet specified criteria.
This follows the SFC’s statement of 1 November 2018 regarding the regulatory framework for virtual asset fund managers, fund distributors and trading platform operators (see our e-bulletin of 2 November 2018 for further details), in which the SFC indicated (among other things) that it would impose terms and conditions on certain virtual asset fund managers.