Business integrity is vital to the health of the vibrant economies of the Asia-Pacific region, as well as of the companies based or seeking to do business in the region. Fostering trust and transparency through Collective Action between stakeholders – local businesses, foreign investors, governments, civil society – is key to advancing a strong culture of business integrity, levelling the playing field and solving practical challenges that hold back fair business.
This guidance seeks to capture and explore the innovative approaches that African governments have developed to address the demand and supply sides of corruption more effectively and sustainably. It is designed to help government institutions, in particular national anti-corruption agencies, engage with the private sector more effectively to prevent corruption.
This article was published by Gemma Aiolfi and Scarlet Wannenwetsch of the Basel Institute on Governance together with Daniel Malan of Trinity Business School and Klaus Moosmayer of Novartis for California Management Review. The authors argue that businesses seeking to integrate compliance and integrity at the core of their business model would do well to look at the Business 20's recommendations.
The 2023 OECD Global Anti-Corruption & Integrity Forum focuses on policy solutions and business innovations that strengthen integrity and fight corruption. The Basel Institute has been selected as an official Knowledge Partner and will participate in the following sessions:
1 Incentivising integrity in infrastructure: A systemic and multi-stakeholder approach
24 May 2023 | 14.30-16.00 | OECD Auditorium
Gemma Aiolfi is an international expert in anti-corruption compliance and a driving force behind the development of private sector-led Collective Action. Gemma helped to establish the Basel Institute on Governance in 2003 alongside Professor Mark Pieth. She served as the organisation's Head of Compliance, Corporate Governance and Collective Action from July 2013 until October 2022, when she transitioned to the role of Senior Advisor.
The Southern Africa Anti-Corruption Collective Action Forum will gather leading figures in Collective Action from the private sector, government and civil society. The focus is on countries in the Southern African region.
The one-day forum is organised by the Basel Institute on Governance in collaboration with The Ethics Institute and the Southern African Anti-Corruption Network (SaaCoN), with the support of the Siemens Integrity Initiative.
Business entities wishing to implement projects funded by Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs, also referred to as International Financial Institutions) will be interested to know that six major MDBs have agreed and published new General Principles for Business Integrity Programmes. Such programmes play an important part in the MDBs’ efforts to fight fraud and corruption in the projects they finance or otherwise support.
Published by six major international financial institutions (IFIs), these General Principles provide non-exhaustive, non-binding guidance on business integrity programmes for businesses implementing IFI-funded projects.
What is the role of business in reducing illicit financial flows in the Southern Africa subregion? How is it evolving? What can businesses do to address corruption and money laundering risks in order to boost market growth and development and to strengthen governance systems?
In last week’s interview on how Collective Action has cut corruption in Nigerian ports, Cecilia Müller Torbrand of the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network and Soji Apampa of the Convention on Business Integrity explained their data-driven approach and the measurable impact it has had.