Join Alan Ward to discover what the new offence means in practice – and why you should be paying close attention…
The new corporate criminal offence of “failure to prevent fraud”, which was introduced by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, came into force on 1 September 2025.
Since that time, an organisation operating and/or selling to customers in the UK can be held liable for any fraud offence committed by an “associated person”, where the fraud is intended to benefit the organisation.
But exactly what does this mean for retailers? And how can businesses realistically protect themselves from potential prosecution?
We are delighted to announce that Alan Ward, Partner at Stephenson Harwood LLP, will be taking to the stage at Retail Risk – London to answer these questions and more.
He’ll deliver a practical, insight-driven presentation on the new corporate criminal offence of “failure to prevent fraud”, with a particular focus on retail exposure and real-world compliance challenges.
Alan will explore a range of fraud scenarios in which retailers could be liable under the new offence, and introduce the defence of “reasonable prevention procedures”.
This will also be examined further in the related round table session that follows the presentation, so be sure to stick around to continue the discussion and test how these principles apply in practice.
If you’re responsible for fraud risk, compliance, legal, audit or operational resilience in a retail business – or simply want to understand how this major legal change could affect your organisation – this is a session you really can’t afford to miss.
About Alan
Alan is a partner at Stephenson Harwood LLP specialising in regulatory and criminal litigation and investigations. He advises corporates in navigating investigations commenced by agencies such as the Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”) and Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”), along with internal, non-public investigations into allegations of fraud, financial and non-financial misconduct and irregularity.
Alan advises retailers on anti-money laundering (“AML”) regulation, health and safety investigations, and on mitigating fraud risks, including under the new corporate offence of failure to prevent fraud.
Retail Risk – London takes place on 18th June at the Novotel London.