ECCTA in Practice - What In-House Legal Teams Need to Do Now

Introduction

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA) has now moved from implementation to enforcement. The failure to prevent fraud offence has been in force since September 2025, Companies House identity verification requirements are being actively rolled out and the Crime and Policing Act 2026 has significantly expanded corporate criminal liability by extending the senior manager attribution regime to all criminal offences.

For in-house legal teams, the focus has shifted from understanding the legislation to demonstrating effective compliance. This webinar provides a practical update on the latest developments and explains how organisations can implement robust governance, fraud prevention and Companies House compliance measures while preparing for increased regulatory scrutiny.

What You Will Learn

This webinar will cover the following:

• ECCTA update - where each element of the regime now stands and forthcoming developments
• Failure to Prevent Fraud
• Organisations in scope
• Associated persons and relevant fraud offences
• The reasonable procedures defence
• Practical compliance measures and lessons from the first year of enforcement
• Corporate Criminal Liability
• The expanded senior manager attribution regime
• Identifying senior managers in practice
• Implications for governance and delegated authority
• Companies House Reform
• Identity verification requirements and key deadlines
• New registrar powers and enforcement
• Practical implications for company secretarial teams and due diligence
• Building an Effective Compliance Framework
• Fraud risk assessments
• Due diligence on third parties
• Policies, training and governance
• Board reporting and ongoing monitoring
• Responding to Suspected Fraud
• The first 72 hours
• Internal investigations and privilege
• Self-reporting and working with regulators
• Practical case studies and a final ECCTA compliance checklist for in-house legal teams