GoodCorporation has audited the first companies to receive the Banknote Ethics Initiative accreditation
GoodCorporation has audited the first companies to be accredited under the Banknote Ethics Initiative (BnEI). This initiative aims to raise standards across the banknote industry by requiring its members to follow a code of good practice developed by the Institute of Business Ethics. GoodCorporation translated that code into an audit framework and has also developed the audit methodology.
Commenting on its involvement, Leo Martin, director of GoodCorporation said: “This initiative should be a blueprint for how an industry can work together to raise ethical standards. A number of sectors have tried to promote an industry-wide code of ethical conduct, but this is the first of its kind to really get off the ground. It is gaining international recognition and its principles have already been endorsed by the Bank of England, the Bank of Canada, the Reserve Bank of Australia and several others.”
The Banknote Ethics Initiative was launched at the Currency Conference in May 2013. Eight leading companies across the industry have signed the BnEI Code of Ethical Business Practice – Arjowiggins Security SAS, Crane Currency – a division of Crane & Co., Inc., De La Rue plc, Giesecke & Devrient GmbH, Innovia Security, KBA-NotaSys SA, Note Printing Australia Ltd and SICPA SA. Three companies have now completed audits undertaken by independent assessors GoodCorporation.
At the first meeting of the BnEI Accreditation Council on 17-18 February, three companies were formally accredited and become BnEI members. Five more companies are working to become accredited at the next Accreditation Council meeting scheduled for autumn 2014. The Accreditation Council includes three highly respected professionals with experience in promoting ethical business practices:
- Philippa Foster Back CBE OBE (Chair of the BnEI Accreditation Council) – Director of the Institute of Business Ethics and a member of the Advisory Board of the Centre for Corporate Reputation at the Said Business School at Oxford University.
- Professor Josef Wieland – Director of Leadership Excellence at Zeppelin University. Awarded the Max Weber Prize for Business Ethics of the Bund Deutscher Industrie; Association of German Entrepreneurs in 1999.
- Gerry Gaetz – President and CEO of the Canadian Payments Association. Formerly Chief of Currency, Banking Operations and Corporate Services for the Bank of Canada.
Philippa Foster Back said; ‘We are delighted that these companies have demonstrated their commitment to promoting ethical business practices in the industry by successfully completing the thorough audits under taken by GoodCorporation.’
Antti Heinonen, BnEI Chairman, commented; ‘It is encouraging to see the level of support that the initiative has gained from across the banknote industry and its main customers, central banks, since it was launched last May. With the first companies now confirmed as BnEI members and a number of companies scheduled to join soon, I have no doubt that the initiative will become acknowledged as setting the ethical standards to which all suppliers in the industry will be expected to perform.‘
About BnEI:
- The Banknote Ethics Initiative is an initiative established to provide ethical business practice, with a focus on the prevention of corruption and on compliance with anti-trust law within the banknote industry.
- Maintaining high ethical standards across the banknote industry is essential in order to ensure that customers and other stakeholders are confident that standards are beyond reproach.
- Members must adhere to a strict Code of Ethical Business Practice. All organisations that have signed the Code must become accredited after passing an audit carried out by a third party auditor.
- GoodCorporation is one of only two third party auditors.
About GoodCorporation:
- GoodCorporation has over ten years’ experience of checking and measuring corporate behaviour.
- Since its launch in 2000, over 450 assessments have been conducted in more than 50 countries for over 100 clients.
- GoodCorporation has expertise in code of conduct audits, ethical management practices, anti-bribery and corruption, due diligence of intermediaries, ethics training, whistleblowing and other corporate responsibility areas
For more information contact: Sally McGeachie Head of Communications at GoodCorporation
Tel: 020 8877 5300