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:

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.

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

Can Integrity Pacts stop corruption in Covid-19 procurement? What do they look like? How do they increase trust between governments, companies and citizens? How much money can they save in public tenders? Where have Integrity Pacts been used and what were the results?

The UK government's British Integrity Initiative has announced that from now until the end of July, the Department for International Development will cover the full cost of the Basel Institute’s integrity guidance services for eligible small- and medium-sized businesses.

Companies currently benefiting from the programme, which until now has been subsidised by 60–80 percent depending on the company’s size, will also see their fees waived.

The Banknote Ethics Initiative (BnEI) and Basel Institute on Governance are partnering to promote the use of Integrity Pacts in banknote-related procurement to further promote the highest standards of integrity and fair competition in the industry.

One of our two submissions to the UN General Assembly Special Session against Corruption 2021 concerns private-sector engagement in the fight against corruption through anti-corruption Collective Action.

Our recommendation

UN Member States should put measures in place to promote the inclusion of anti-corruption Collective Action by the private sector as part of a risk-based approach to prevent corruption (in line with Article 5, UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC)).

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? 

The agility that we pride ourselves on at the Basel Institute is often tested, not least by political turbulence in our partner countries. Beyond its implications for society and its catastrophic impact on victims and health systems, the coronavirus pandemic is the biggest test for us so far.