News & Blog

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? To explore these questions, the Basel Institute on Governance together with the National Business Initiative (NBI), the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) and Covington organised a multi-stakeholder Thought

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. In the second part of the interview, Cecilia and Soji _offer lessons for anti-corruption practitioners

Nominations are now open for the Anti-Corruption Collective Action Award 2023, which this year focuses on Southern Africa. Launched last year, the Collective Action Awards celebrate inspiring and outstanding Collective Action initiatives to tackle corruption and raise standards of business integrity. Last year’s winners were the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network and UN Glob

The Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN) delivers leading examples of Collective Action against corruption around the world and Nigeria is one of its flagship success stories. In _collaboration with the Convention on Business Integrity (CBi), the initiative has kept seafarers calling at Nigerian ports safe from corrupt demands since 2019. Their installation of the world’s first real-time incident reporting tool and connected HelpDesk has significantly reduced corrupt demands and earned them

In this guest blog, France Chain and Vitor Geromel of the OECD Anti-Corruption Division present the new OECD Toolkit for raising awareness and preventing corruption in SMEs. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of many countries’ economies. They represent 99 percent of all businesses in the OECD area, generating about 60 percent of employment and totalling

The European Commission has issued a strong endorsement of anti-corruption Collective Action as a “best practice” in the fight against corruption. Its Handbook of good practices in the fight against corruption explains how Collective Action can bring together “stakeholders in the private and public sectors, civil society, and international organisations to tackle shared problems of corrupt

The future is looking bright for Collective Action as our community and Collective Action Mentoring Programme continues to grow. The programme provides free hands-on support for organisations working with the private sector on corruption issues. Programme leaders Scarlet Wannenwetsch and Liza Young look back on the first year and reflect on what we – not just our mentees! – have learned. We look back on a successful yea

_Brazil’s huge agricultural sector is no stranger to corruption scandals – but now a group of agribusinesses are working together with government and civil society to raise standards of integrity and prevent corruption from damaging their business opportunities and reputation. This guest blog by Ana Aranha and Jacqueline Oliveira, Anti-Corruption Manager and Anti-Corruption Coordinator at the UN Global Compact Network Brazil, explains how Collective Action is helping the group to collaborate on

The Basel Institute on Governance is delighted to have been selected by the B20 India as a Network and Knowledge Partner. For the 12th consecutive year, the Basel Institute on Governance will bring its expertise in Collective Action, integrity and anti-corruption compliance to support the B20 process in shaping an impactful and business-oriented response. This year, in view of the growing significance for the private sector to adhere to Environment, Social and

Finding effective ways to achieve environmental, social, and governance (ESG) business goals has just become a lot more critical for companies in the EU. On 29 November 2022, the EU Council adopted the European Parliament’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). This amends the Non-Financial Reporting Directive and requires EU companies, and other companies who have substantial business activity in the EU, to c

At the 2022 B20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia, political and business leaders repeatedly emphasised the imperative for all sectors of society to work together to address problems that affect us all. Chief among those problems are corruption and unfair business practices, which stand in the way of achieving a strong pandemic recovery and each and every of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Our call for B20 companies and G20 governments to foster, facilitate and engage in anti-corruption Collec

This blog by Liza Young, Project Associate for Collective Action in the Basel Institute’s Private Sector team, draws on her newly published Policy Brief in English and French on how anti-corruption Collective Action can help West African coastal states achieve their development potential. Africa is estimated to [lose an unbelievable USD 88.6 billion](https://unctad.org/news/africa-could-gain-89-billion-annually-curbing

A delegation from the Basel Institute will attend the International Anti-Corruption Conference (#IACC2022) in Washington DC on 6–10 December 2022. We will be distributing some of our recent publications and are looking forward to meeting our friends, partners and hopefully future partners in anti-corruption. Please see this summary of plenary sessions and panels we are leading or involved in, plus details of how to meet us there.

The rapid expansion of anti-corruption Collective Action is offering businesses, governments and civil society groups powerful ways to enhance business integrity and create fair business conditions. What does Collective Action look like in practice? What benefits does it bring, what is success, and how do you measure it? And what should we expect from each other in these multi-stakeholder initiatives? A Basel Institute webinar on 19 October 2022 brought together four leading speakers in Collect

The B20-G20 dialogue has the potential to transform the way that both the B20 and G20 work towards a more streamlined and impactful process. But what does it take? And how do we get there? Insights from Scarlet Wannenwetsch, who serves as Deputy Co-Chair of the B20 Indonesia Integrity and Compliance Taskforce. The Basel Institute on Governance has been honoured to support this year’s Taskforce as both [Co-Chair and Network Partner](https://baselgovernance.org/news/basel-institute-serve-co

Economic crimes are significant obstacles to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and professional accountants can play a pivotal role to clear a path. This guest blog by Kevin Dancey, CEO of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), marks the launch of IFAC’s new Action Plan for Fighting Corruption and Economic Crime. In 2015 all United Nations Member States adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a shared blu

A guest interview with Bani Bains, Communications Manager at the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR), for the B20 Collective Action Hub. What does your initiative seek to achieve, and how? At the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber, of which the Basel Institute on Governance is an NGO member, stakeholders representing all parts of the natural rubber industry come together to find c

Publishing information on the real owners of companies, also known as beneficial owners, can help governments curb corruption and support a more transparent environment for business. A session at the 4th International Collective Action Conference in Basel discussed how the new ‘Opening Extractives_’ programme seeks to create new momentum for beneficial ownership transparency in a sector tha

Over 200 leading anti-corruption professionals from the public and private sectors, civil society and academia came together at the 4th International Collective Action Conference on 30 June and 1 July 2022. Their goal: to reach across silos and add momentum to the growing global recognition that Collective Action needs to be a central element of corruption prevention. The Basel Institute on Governance hosted the conference with the

Companies and business associations play an important role in preventing and reducing corruption in the markets where they operate – something that governments also want to achieve. So how can governments and the private sector work together better to raise standards of integrity and fair business in specific countries and industries? To answer this, our Collective Action team has worked with the people on the front lines of governments’ corruption prevent efforts – anti-corruption authorities

Collective-action.com is the new website of the B20 Collective Action Hub, a free resource centre on tools and strategies to prevent corruption and raise standards of business integrity through Collective Action. Since its establishment nearly 10 years ago, the B20 Collective Action Hub has become the go-to platform for information, ideas and connections to others on anti-corruption Collective Action. New look, better features Visit the all-new website to:

Multinational companies are no strangers to problems of corruption in their supply chains, which can bring significant legal, financial and reputational risks. Especially when entering new markets, many companies find it difficult to identify credible local partners and to assess their adherence to anti-corruption regulations. Anti-corruption Collective Action can be a means of bridging this gap and facilitating market access for both multinational companies and local suppliers or partners. Som

As part of ongoing efforts to support Collective Action initiatives aimed at addressing corruption in particular markets and regions, the Basel Institute launched a Mentoring Programme in January 2022. Following a comprehensive selection process, we are pleased to announce that six organisations have been selected as mentees in this first cohort: [Canadian Centre of

The Basel Institute’s Green Corruption programme has recently launched a five-year partnership with the USAID Indonesia Integrity Initiative (USAID INTEGRITAS) project in Indonesia. The project is a new, USD 9.9 million USAID initiative implemented by a consortium of NGOs led by KEMITRAAN (Partnership for Governance Reform

The Wolfsberg Group – an association of 13 global banks that develops frameworks and guidance to manage financial crime risks – became an independent legal entity in October 2021. Its new home is at the Basel Institute on Governance headquarters in Switzerland. We are proud to host what continues to be a ground-breaking Collective Action against financial crime. Our role

Our joint chapter in a new book on Perspectives on Antitrust Compliance answers a common question that arises when compliance officers and company lawyers first hear about anti-corruption Collective Action: are there antitrust risks in engaging with other industry players through Collective Action? The short answer is no. The longer answer is, as we explain in the

The Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) has launched tailored guidance on measures that companies in the oil, gas and mining sectors can adopt to reduce corruption risks when partnering with state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Published on a user-friendly website, Anticorruption Guidance for Partners of State-Owned Enterprises also recommends measures SOEs can take to strengthen their own anti-corruption safeguards. The guidance was [lau

What are the four biggest developments in anti-corruption Collective Action in the last years? And what are some examples of these around the world? _Gemma Aiolfi spoke on these topics to delegates at a Members Meeting of Etik ve İtibar Derneği (TEİD) – the Turkish Ethics and Reputation Society. TEİD is an inspiring cross-sectoral Collective Action initiative that has b

The Basel Institute has launched a Collective Action Helpdesk, a free advice service on Collective Action approaches to fight corruption and promote fair business. Through the Helpdesk, our team provides free, practical and independent advice on how to work collaboratively across stakeholder groups to address shared corruption challenges and promote fair and responsible business. Free and open to all The He

We are delighted to have been invited to participate in the B20 Indonesia Integrity and Compliance Task Force as Network Partner and Co-Chair. Gemma Aiolfi, Head of Compliance and Collective Action, will serve as Co-Chair together with Deputy Co-Chair Scarlet Wannenwetsch, Project Associate in our Collective Acti