British prosecutors have had a hard time trying to get a criminal conviction on a company for financial crime.

There have been convictions for environmental pollution and for corporate manslaughter, but trying to find a way to make a company criminally liable for occurrences in the business has been much harder.

The case that really brought it home in the legal as well as the wider world is the action against Barclays and Barclays Bank, and subsequently its former directors, regarding the way that investments were made with the state of Qatar during the financial crisis, in an effort to stave-off a government bailout.

While all were acquitted – though the bank was more recently fined over its conduct with regards to listings rules in part of the same affair by the Financial Conduct Authority – the case was cited as an example of how difficult it was to attribute criminal liability to a whole firm, from the alleged actions of some of its most senior personnel. The former chief executive and three other officers were acquitted separately over conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and unlawful financial assistance.

Prosecutors and lawyers are now hoping that a change in the law, which came into force in December 2023, with the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA) 2023, will change the game fundamentally.

The key part of the legislation here allows for the fact that senior managers can effectively be representing the company itself, and therefore the organisation can be prosecuted if senior managers have been up to criminal behaviour.

https://www.ftadviser.com/financial-fraud/2025/4/22/economic-crime-act-only-moves-the-dial-from-almost-impossible-to-quite-difficult/