Making Bankers Accountable

Section 7 of the Bribery Act 2010 has not yet been deployed in anger.  This is the section that makes it an offence for a commercial organization to fail to prevent bribery.  It remains to be seen how often the section is used.  A similar provision in the Money Laundering Regulations (reg. 45) has never been used, and that provision has been in place since 1993. Under section 7 of the 2010 Act, only a commercial organization can be prosecuted.  Senior managers can be prosecuted under reg. 45.

Attempting therefore to legislate against firms and individuals that make bad calls, or fail to prevent bad conduct in their organisations, is an uphill struggle. Recent events have, however, demonstrated that law enforcement is keen to make the attempt.