UK Finance has developed financial services guidance on behalf of our members to supplement guidance issued by the Home Office under section 204 of the Act.  This UK Finance sector-specific guidance is not statutory guidance and is advisory only.  If there is a conflict between this sector-specific guidance and the Home Office guidance, the Home Office guidance will take priority.

The document sets out sector-specific guidance for the purposes of interpretation of the failure to prevent fraud offence and for the purpose of setting out examples of (i) reasonable prevention procedures and (ii) circumstances in which it would not be reasonable for a firm to have prevention procedures in place.

This guidance was developed in conjunction with and for use by UK Finance members of the financial services sector only.  It provides a guide to firms (and their legal advisors and representatives) in their understanding and interpretation of the Act [Part 1], the types of reasonable prevention procedures that might be proportionate in the circumstances [Part 2], and the circumstances where reasonable prevention procedures would not be reasonable [Part 3].  

This guidance is not intended to be exhaustive, firms do not need to specifically consider this guidance in determining their own approach to either addressing the offence or establishing reasonable prevention procedures – it does not in any way limit the prevention procedures or circumstances that can be evidenced by a firm in defence of the failure to prevent fraud offence.