AFB Practice Roundtable: UK’s New ‘Failure to Prevent Fraud’ Offence – Next Steps After Publication of Government Guidance

[Note: this is a repeat of the AFB practice roundtable held on 4 December 2024 on this topic]

The ‘failure to prevent fraud’ offence was introduced by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023.   The Government issued Guidance on the offence in early November 2024 and confirmed that the requirements will come into force on 1 September 2025.  The guidance provides advice on the fraud prevention framework that organisations should put in place.   

This practice roundtable, in partnership with Squire Patton Boggs and Evelyn Partners, will consider the steps that financial services organisations should be taking to assess their fraud risk and implement reasonable fraud prevention measures. The roundtable on 4 December was oversubscribed and Squire Patton Boggs and Evelyn have kindly agreed to facilitate a further discussion.

Why attend?

The roundtable will provide members with an opportunity to discuss how to implement an effective fraud prevention framework, with regard to the Government guidance. 

AFB will circulate an agenda and a series of questions to attendees in advance which will be used to aid discussions.

The roundtable will be led by Hannah Laming, Partner in the White Collar and Government Investigations team at Squire Patton Boggs (UK) LLP and John Robinson, Senior Manager at Evelyn Partners.  They will be encouraging an open and dynamic discussion involving attendees to consider best practice in the industry and how to manage fraud prevention effectively and pragmatically. The facilitated discussion will cover the following topics:

• Identifying and assessing the risk of fraud covered by the ‘failure to prevent fraud’ offence
• Mapping the fraud risk against an existing control framework
• Introducing reasonable and proportionate measures to address gaps
• Considering the impact of culture and governance on fraud prevention
• The merits of a holistic approach to economic crime compliance
• Documenting fraud prevention procedures

The Chatham House Rule will apply to this event to encourage open dialogue and discussion.

There will be refreshments and networking from 08:30 before the roundtable discussion commences at 09:00.

Please note that capacity for the roundtable is limited to 30 members and one person per member bank.

Who should attend?

This roundtable is aimed at Compliance, Risk and Legal teams.

Facilitators

Hannah Laming – European head of Government Investigations & White Collar

Hannah manages internal investigations and compliance as well as high-profile, complex government investigations and litigation often involving the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or other UK and global enforcement agencies. She acts for corporates and individuals and her expertise includes fraud, corruption, money laundering, internal investigations, government investigations, cross-border issues, private prosecutions, contentious regulatory matters and compliance.

Hannah is recognised as a leading individual across her practice areas by The Legal 500 and is ranked as band 1 for private prosecutions by Chambers. Referees describe her as “outstandingly detailed and forensic”, “utterly committed” and as having “great strategic instincts”. Hannah has over 20 years’ experience as a lawyer.

John Robinson, Senior Manager, Evelyn Partners

Logistics

Fee:        Included in AFB membership (no fee)

Venue:     Squire Patton Boggs, 60 London Wall, EC2M 5TQ

Date:        Thursday 30 January 2024

Time:       09:00 – 10:30 (Registration and breakfast from 08:30)

If you would like to submit a question or have any specific areas that you would like the session to address, please send them to AFB at secretariat@foreignbanks.org.uk  You will receive details on how to join this session a week before the event.