New business and new markets present risks and opportunities. For a compliance officer, assessing and mitigating these together with business colleagues is no easy task. But a robust compliance programme and a clear, sustainable business strategy make it a lot easier.

Risk and opportunity

In the last few months, the business world has been turned upside down by the Covid-19 pandemic. We are reminded of the Chinese word for “crisis”, which is composed of the two characters for risk and opportunity.

In this article, Juhani Grossmann, IWT Team Leader at the Basel Institute on Governance, explores the role of public-private partnerships in tackling illegal wildlife trade (IWT).

This is the second article in our short series of perspectives on IWT and financial crime, in collaboration with the International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators. 

Illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is in the global spotlight thanks to its alleged role in triggering the coronavirus pandemic. It is sparking vivid debate among communities of experts not just in conservation, but in business, finance, technology, anti-corruption forces and law. 

The recently published Global Mapping of Anti-Corruption Authorities fills a critical gap in information about national anti-corruption authorities (ACAs) around the world. ACAs are key institutions to prevent and combat corruption, but until now centralised data on their mandates, activities and even existence has been lacking.

The global disruption from covid-19 to health and economic systems has magnified risks to preserving business integrity that will have longstanding impact. As a result, the pandemic is drawing significant attention to several of the world’s largest Collective Action initiatives that are reinforcing ethical business conduct in healthcare. The timing and actions of these initiatives could not be more critical in our crisis recovery efforts.

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.

In this guest article, Duncan Smith and Dominik Adamski of the European Investment Bank's Fraud Investigations Team explain how risk-based Proactive Integrity Reviews have helped to uncover vulnerabilities and fraud risks in EIB-funded projects. The General Principles are available for anyone to adapt and use.