Clifford Chance

Criminal Finances Act 2017: Starting gun fired for financial crime changes - New tax offences enter into force

29 September 2017

On 30 September, new corporate offences in relation to failure to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion will enter into force. However, the Criminal Finances Act 2017, which introduces them, also contains a raft of other changes to UK financial crime frameworks. When these enter into force (expected to be later in 2017), they will have significant practical implications for financial crime compliance programmes. Their arrival coincides with a period of close scrutiny and strong enforcement activity by authorities worldwide.

This briefing examines the new corporate offences and the other imminent changes to financial crime frameworks. It also looks further ahead to measures which governments in the UK and further afield are considering introducing and summarises the approaches being taken by enforcement authorities in some key jurisdictions.

Download PDF