In recent years, a lot of new regulations have been introduced around the world to combat bribery and corruption in business. Moreover, fines totalling more than eleven billion euro have been issued in six years. Yet the overall level of bribery and corruption has not decreased, according to a study by EY; in Belgium it is even said to have doubled in the last 6 years.
However, the importance of doing business with integrity cannot be underestimated. The favourable perception of customers and the general public are important arguments. An honourable reputation also has advantages in terms of recruitment, retention and business performance.
The integrity of an organisation depends on a wide range of factors including the corporate culture, the tone at the top and whether or not there are proper procedures and adequate controls. Companies also need well-trained and experienced compliance professionals.
The framework of the compliance function is becoming broader and more complex, however. Just think of the additional regulations with regard to corruption, cybersecurity, GDPR … digitisation has a double impact on the changing compliance function. On the one hand, digital technology facilitates certain compliance tasks, for example in the field of forensic data analysis. But on the other hand, digitisation also creates additional complexity, for example, through GDPR.
