Settlements can provide an important channel to hold companies to account for wrongdoings and resolve foreign bribery and other cases without resorting to a full trial (civil or criminal), or contested administrative proceeding.

Yet, their deterrent effect can be questionable if they are not transparent, and do not provide effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions and if there is no judicial process. Finally, there should be reparations for the victims of the offence.

This Transparency International report evaluates the transparency of corporate reporting by the world’s 124 largest publicly listed companies. The report assesses the disclosure practices of companies with respect to their anti-corruption programmes, company holdings and the disclosure of key financial information on a country-by-country basis. It follows on from a 2012 report which focused on the world’s 105 largest publicly traded companies.

The Business Principles for Countering Bribery provide a framework for companies to develop comprehensive anti-bribery programmes. Whilst many large companies have no-bribes policies all too few implement these policies effectively.

This report from Transparency International encourages companies to consider using the business principles as a starting point for developing their own anti-bribery programmes or to benchmark existing ones. 

At the upcoming UN Conference of States Parties (CoSP) to the UNCAC in Panama City during 25-29 November 2013, the Basel Institute will officially launch its most recent publication, Emerging Trends in Asset Recovery (see above under “Recent publication”). The book will be distributed at our information booth where we look forward to welcoming you.

During the CoSP, the Institute will also be hosting and participating in a series of workshops, notably:

The Basel Institute worked closely with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to develop the Business Reporting Institution for the Ukraine, which represents a High Level Reporting Mechanism to address business corruption risks. An official agreement in respect of this new Institution was due to be signed in early November by the EBRD and the Government of Ukraine.

This process has currently been postponed by the Ukraine Government due to their need and request for further legal clarifications prior to the final signing of such agreement.

As part of the International Business Law LLM programme at the Europa Institute of the University of Zürich, the Institute’s compliance specialist, Gemma Aiolfi, also the Institute’s Head of Corporate Governance, Compliance & Collective Action, gave lectures on the topic of Corporate Criminal Law. This course module was offered for the first time in English to law students from around the world.

The course topics covered included corporate criminal liability, compliance and corruption.

The Basel Institute has joined the recently established Swiss National Compliance Roundtable. The aim of the Roundtable is to develop national standards of education and training for persons interested in Compliance with a view to raising and setting standards and qualifications.

A presentation will be made at the end of January 2014 to interested parties in the private sector, government and academia, which will outline the proposals for further work.

At the invitation of the OECD, the Basel Institute on Governance has joined the Advisory Board, which has been established to advise on the OECD’s Thematic Study on Business Integrity in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

The first meeting was held in Istanbul in October, with all Advisory Board members giving input into the questionnaire, which will form the basis for the first part of this study.