The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (the ECCTA), which was passed on 26 October 2023, introduces a new economic crime-related regulatory objective under the Legal Services Act 2007, which requires the LSB, and the regulators we oversee, to promote the prevention and detection of economic crime. The new regulatory objective puts beyond doubt that:
- regulators have a duty to prevent their regulated communities from facilitating economic crime; and,
- the LSB should be monitoring regulators’ compliance with this duty.
The LSB has been working collaboratively to identify how best to ensure regulators respond appropriately to the new regulatory objective.
As part of our work, most recently we have engaged with front line regulators and some civil society organisations through a round table. See here a summary of the conversation.
Consultation on statutory guidance on economic crime
We consulted on a draft statutory guidance ‘Guidance for New Regulatory Objective on Economic Crime’ following a new legal duty being placed on the LSB and the legal services regulators to ‘promote the prevention and detection of economic crime’.
The consultation ran from 15 November 2024 to 7 February 2025 and responses have informed updates to the proposed guidance. We have now published our response document and a finalised guidance that underlines the important role of legal services regulators in tackling economic crime.
Economic Crime Consultation Response
Post Consultation updates to proposed Economic Crime Regulatory Objective Statutory Guidance