A&O Shearman publishes 2026 Cross-border white-collar crime and investigations review

A&O Shearman has published its Cross-border white-collar crime and investigations review 2026, providing comprehensive insights on an increasingly complex enforcement landscape.

The review analyzes the most significant developments and emerging risks across more than a dozen jurisdictions, including Australia, Belgium, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, the UAE, the UK, and the U.S.

Key themes addressed in this year's review include:

• Expanded corporate criminal liability: New "failure to prevent" offenses and shifting attribution tests are raising baseline criminal risk for large organizations, with authorities increasingly probing the conduct and outcomes of internal investigations.
• Demand for proof of compliance effectiveness: Regulators are moving beyond high-level policy descriptions and now expect concrete evidence that compliance programs prevent, detect, and remediate misconduct in practice.
• AI and investigations: AI is embedded in the operations and investigations of many organizations, speeding up document review and detecting anomalies and patterns. Businesses must now navigate the challenges of running reliable inquiries where AI is both a tool and source of evidence.
• Geopolitical and national security pressures: Conflicting laws across jurisdictions, particularly relating to data localization, state secrecy, and sanctions, are creating significant complexities for cross-border investigations.
• ESG enforcement risk: Greenwashing, supply chain accountability, and environmental prosecutions are intensifying in Europe, while the U.S. presents a different but evolving risk profile around political scrutiny and the potential for increased litigation.
• Whistleblowing and internal reporting: New regulations are strengthening protections for whistleblowers and imposing fresh obligations on companies, with some authorities actively incentivizing direct external reporting.

The review also offers jurisdiction-specific insights, examining local enforcement priorities, legislative reforms, and predictions for 2026 and beyond.