The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has updated its policies on facilitation payments, business expenditure (hospitality) and corporate self-reporting, following a review headed by the body's recently appointed director, David Green QC.

In a statement on its website, the SFO said the review would help restate its role as an investigator and prosecutor of serious or complex fraud and ensure consistency with other prosecuting bodies.

How the SFO determines the prosecution of facilitation payments, business expenditure and corporate self-reporting will be governed by the "Joint Prosecution Guidance of the Director of the SFO and the Director of Public Prosecutions on the Bribery Act 2010″.

Green, one-time director of the Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office, replaced former director Richard Alderman in April. Since then, he has signalled the SFO would adopt a tougher approach when dealing with high-profile fraud and corruption.

"This is a message to the corporate world that the SFO is first and foremost a prosecutor", said Hogan Lovells litigation partner Jeremy Cole. "They are clearly toughening their stance towards enforcement. The sense is that there will be less flexibility for corporates to engage with the SFO – there will be no half way house. Corporates will now need to rethink their approach on self-reporting."

Pinsent Masons partner Barry Vitou drew particularly attention to the changes made to self-reporting: "The old SFO preference for settling corporate self-reports civilly has been dropped and businesses may now perceive a much greater risk of a criminal prosecution even if they self-report. That said, the future of the SFO is reliant on self-reporting and so the tough line needs to be seen in context."

"On facilitation payments, the old guidance appeared to accept that business practices wouldn't change overnight, which implied the SFO would take a light touch approach to minor infractions. It looks like the honeymoon period is over. The new guidance is much more black and white."

Vitou also said businesses should not be nervous about legitimate corporate hospitality, an area in which corporates have often sought advice in the year since the Bribery Act 2010 came into effect.