The Banknote Ethics Initiative (BnEI) has made great strides since 2013 in promoting the highest standards of integrity and fair competition in the banknote sector. Now it's one of the first business-led initiatives to promote Integrity Pacts as a tool to safeguard banknote-related procurement from corruption risks.

The high level of confidentiality needed in this sector adds an extra challenge to the mix. The BnEI's Chairman, Antti Heinonen, gives a short insight into the project in the text below, which also appears in our 2019 Annual Report:

Amid the current buzz around virtual training, it's good to be reminded that effective capacity building is about a lot more than just learning new skills. Some of the most important aspects of our International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) workshops can't easily be transferred to cyberspace.

The 9th public edition of the Basel AML Index, an independent ranking of countries’ risk of money laundering and terrorist financing, will feature several changes to its underlying indicators and methodology. The new edition of the Basel AML Index is due to be released in early July.

Media reports of corruption arising from coronavirus-related aid and emergency procurement are starting to circulate. Crises such as the current one, in common with natural disaster situations, inevitably increase the risks of corruption. And that increases the importance of strong corruption prevention.

Small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) can now benefit from half-price packages for our supercharged open-source search tool, Basel Open Intelligence.

Covid-19 lockdowns haven’t stopped crime and corruption, but they make it harder for compliance officers to do their jobs. This is especially true for SMEs, where corruption risks remain high but resources for compliance are more likely to be squeezed.

Before joining the Basel Institute’s International Centre for Asset Recovery, Tom Walugembe was a Senior State Attorney at Uganda’s Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. In this role, he secured the first ever money laundering conviction in Uganda in the case of Uganda v Serwamba David Musoke and 6 Others.

This landmark case blazes a trail not just for Uganda but for other countries to prosecute cases of money laundering and recover illicit assets.

In her Annual Report presentation to the Assembly of the Republic of Mozambique broadcast on national television, the Attorney General of Mozambique, Beatriz Buchili, emphasised the need for approval of a new Asset Recovery Bill.

This important law will provide Mozambique with more effective ways to recover stolen assets. It also establishes the new Mozambican Asset Recovery Office and Asset Management Office.

The Basel Institute on Governance is delighted to announce it has recently become an affiliated partner to the Network of Corruption Prevention Authorities (NCPA).

Law enforcement officers from Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Djibouti, Tanzania and South Sudan last week worked together to solve a simulated investigation aimed at confiscating “laundered” cryptocurrency – entirely online.

In early April, more than 770 public officials across Peru took our latest virtual training course on public financial management (PFM). This free seven-week course is part of a programme financed by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) to strengthen standards of PFM in 11 subnational governments.