The following summary reflects key messages emerging from the Harnessing the intangible: enhancing integrity during crises Knowledge Partner session on 25 March 2021 at the 2021 OECD Global Anti-Corruption & Integrity Forum.

An illuminating new report by our OECD partners on Responsible Business Conduct and Anti-Corruption Compliance in Southeast Asia illustrates three points we have long emphasised at the Basel Institute.

As aid, donations and recovery packages are deployed to cope with the pandemic, the risk of corruption is surging in many countries. Funds for emergency healthcare procurements are flooding in. These fast procurement processes often have limited corruption prevention measures in place and therefore present an increased risk for both governments and businesses.

In this short interview, Susanne Friedrich, Director of the Alliance for Integrity, offers her insights into the current challenges faced by SMEs and how Collective Action can help them emerge stronger on the other side.

Integrity risks for businesses trading overseas have shot up due to the pandemic. Anti-corruption and human rights compliance approaches designed to protect companies during “business as usual” can come under strain in these unusual circumstances.

How can companies – especially smaller companies with limited resources – protect themselves from integrity risks in these times of crisis? There are no easy answers, but it’s important to talk about the questions.

“Unprecedented” comes up again and again in commentaries on covid-19. But as I listen to more of my colleagues’ and other experts’ reflections on corruption in relation to the pandemic, it strikes me that we’ve seen many of the same features and corruption risks before.

The disruptive force of the covid-19 pandemic is sweeping around the world. Anti-corruption and asset recovery assistance programmes, such as those in which our International Centre for Asset Recovery specialises, are caught up in the waves – for better or for worse.

Governments are already contemplating life after lockdown and are keen to permit as many businesses as possible to resume operations, ramp up global trade once more, and to galvanise their economies as best they can - even as forecasts about global recession get bleaker by the day.

As economic activity resumes, what will be the effects of the pandemic on the health and well-being of corporate integrity standards and anti-corruption compliance? What support will companies need or want in the post-covid economic reality?