Briefing on the Economic Crime Bill

In February 2022, the Prime Minister committed to bringing forward an Economic Crime Bill in the third parliamentary session. In this briefing, developed in partnership with the APPG on Anti-Corruption and Responsible Tax and the APPG on Fair Business Banking, we outline the key reforms that should be included in this legislation. These include:

• Creating a register of overseas companies that own UK property.

• Empowering Companies House to monitor, verify, and investigate suspicious companies.

• Strengthening Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs).

• Introducing a ‘failure to prevent’ offence for money laundering, fraud, and false accounting.

• Fixing the UK’s fragmented and ineffective anti-money laundering supervisory regime.