Basel Institute on Governance

The Basel Institute on Governance is an independent, international non-profit organisation dedicated to preventing and combating corruption and other financial crimes and to strengthening governance around the world. The organisation was established in Basel, Switzerland in 2003 by Professor Mark Pieth.

Basel Institute on Governance
Formation2003
FounderMark Pieth
TypeNGO
Legal statusSwiss foundation
PurposeAnti-corruption and governance
HeadquartersBasel, Switzerland
Region
Global
Managing Director
Gretta Fenner
Websitewww.baselgovernance.org

It has a regional office for Latin America in Lima, Peru, and field staff based in several countries particularly in east and southern Africa.

The Basel Institute is an Associated Institute of the University of Basel.[1] It is an Institute of the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme Network.[2]

It is known for producing the Basel AML Index, an annual ranking for measuring and comparing countries' risk of money laundering and terrorist financing.

Structure and activities

The Basel Institute is registered as a Swiss foundation. It has around 80 staff (as of 2019).[3]

The organisation's activities are overseen by a Foundation Board comprising prominent experts in the fields of anti-corruption and law, from both the private sector and academia.[4] As of December 2019, the President of the Board is Mark Pieth[5] and the Vice-President is Anne Peters.[6]

It works with the public, private and non-governmental sectors through its various divisions and two international centres of excellence.

International Centre for Asset Recovery

The Basel Institute's International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) assists partner countries in a broad spectrum of asset recovery matters with the primary aim of building the capacity of the country's institutions to trace and recover corruptly acquired assets from abroad.[7]

It provides intensive training courses to law enforcement, financial investigators, prosecutors and the judiciary of partner countries in topics including financial investigation, mutual legal assistance, interviewing skills for investigators and money laundering using Bitcoin.[8]

The centre also provides technical assistance on cases and legal matters in partner countries, as well as support for policy reform. For example, it contributed to the development of the second Malawian National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS II), which was launched on 9 December 2019.[9]

Core donors to ICAR are the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation,[10] the UK Department for International Development,[11] the Principality of Liechtenstein,[12] the Government of Jersey[13] and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation.[14]

International Centre for Collective Action

The International Centre for Collective Action (ICCA) supports companies and multi-stakeholder groups with advice on anti-corruption Collective Action initiatives.[15] It hosts the B20 Collective Action Hub, an online platform for anti-corruption Collective Action resources under a mandate from the B20 group of global business leaders.

Among other initiatives, the Basel Institute has collaborated with the OECD and Transparency International to develop the High Level Reporting Mechanism, an independent mechanism to quickly resolve alerts about suspected acts of corruption in public procurement projects. It is actively engaged in research and support for other Collective Action tools such as integrity pacts with the aim of making anti-corruption Collective Action a global compliance norm.

The Siemens Integrity Initiative, a USD100 million-dollar fund created by Siemens to fight corruption and fraud through Collective Action, education and training, has supported the ICCA with multi-year grants in all three of its funding rounds.[16] Additional funding partners in the past and present include the Global Fund[17] and the KBA NotaSys Integrity Fund.[18]

The centre provides subsidised consultancy services for SMEs on anti-corruption compliance, bribery prevention and Collective Action through the UK Business Integrity Consultancy Service.[19]

Public Governance research

The Basel Institute's Public Governance team conducts research on the root causes of corruption, develops evidence-based anti-corruption approaches and provides training and assessments on relevant political and social aspects.

It is known in particular for its work on social norms and informal governance structures that facilitate corrupt practices.[20] Current research in these areas includes two major projects under the DFID-funded Global Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence Programme on Addressing bribery in the Tanzanian health sector: a behavioural approach[21] and Harnessing informality: Designing anti-corruption network interventions and strategic use of legal instruments.[22]

Compliance and corporate governance

The Basel Institute's Compliance and Corporate Governance division provides advice on anti-corruption compliance and crisis management for companies and other organisations. A notable mandate in this field was Mark Pieth's appointment in November 2011 as chairman of the Independent Governance Committee tasked with overseeing improvements to governance and transparency of FIFA.[23]

Public Finance Management

Through the Basel Institute’s regional office in Peru, a team of specialists provides comprehensive support to 11 Peruvian local and regional governments to generate more effective, efficient and transparent use of public funds.[24]

The programme is funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs through its economic cooperation and development programme in Peru[25] and was extended for a second four-year term in December 2019.[26]

Cross-divisional programmes

The Basel Institute regularly works on concrete social and criminal issues that require anti-corruption expertise from across the spectrum. An example of this is a programme of work focused on combating financial crime in the illegal wildlife trade. As part of this effort, the Basel Institute operates the information-sharing system of the United for Wildlife Transport and Financial Taskforces, two public-private collaborations against wildlife trafficking spearheaded by The Royal Foundation.[27]

Digital tools

The Basel Institute develops and maintains several digital tools to support anti-corruption compliance, financial investigation and policy decisions. The tools are projects of the International Centre for Asset Recovery and are designed for use by public and private sector actors as well as policymakers and academia.

  • Basel AML Index: An interactive country ranking and risk assessment tool for money laundering and terrorist financing.[28] The public ranking has been published annually since 2012 and reveals slow progress across the board in tackling money laundering risks.[29]
  • Basel Open Intelligence: A targeted search tool for open-source research on people and organisations for compliance, due diligence and investigation.[30]
  • eLearning courses: Free online courses on asset tracing, intelligence gathering and financial analysis in several languages. Some courses have been developed in collaboration with the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units.[31]
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References
  1. "Associated Institutes". www.unibas.ch. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  2. "Institutes". www.unodc.org. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  3. "FAQs: Basel Institute on Governance | Basel Institute on Governance". www.baselgovernance.org. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  4. "Governance | Basel Institute on Governance". www.baselgovernance.org. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  5. "Mark Pieth | Professor of Criminal Law and Criminology". www.pieth.ch. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  6. Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law. "Peters, Anne". www.mpil.de. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  7. "The Basel Institute on Governance (International Center for Asset Recovery) (ICAR)". www.unodc.org. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  8. "Training programmes | Basel Institute on Governance". www.baselgovernance.org. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  9. "Govt to target assets bought with stolen funds | Malawi 24 - Malawi news". Malawi 24. 2019-12-10. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  10. "Switzerland's commitment at the international level". www.eda.admin.ch. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  11. "DevTracker Project GB-1-205173". devtracker.dfid.gov.uk. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  12. Countering terrorist financing : the practitioner's point of view. Pieth, Mark., Thelesklaf, Daniel., Ivory, Radha. Bern: Peter Lang. 2009. ISBN 978-3-0351-0408-0. OCLC 812174128.CS1 maint: others (link)
  13. Jersey, States of. "Government of Jersey". gov.je. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  14. "FAQs: International Centre for Asset Recovery | Basel Institute on Governance". www.baselgovernance.org. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  15. "Collective Action | Basel Institute on Governance". www.baselgovernance.org. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  16. "Siemens again provides funds to support fight against corruption". www.linkedin.com. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  17. "Blomeyer & Sanz will work with the Global Fund to ensure integrity in procurement of mosquito nets". Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  18. "KBA-NotaSys Integrity Fund: Funded Projects". KBA-NotaSys Integrity Fund. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  19. "Government help to manage risks of bribery, corruption and abuse of human rights - great.gov.uk". www.great.gov.uk. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  20. "Basel Institute on Governance Applies New Framework to Assess Governance and Corruption Risks – ERCAS – European Research Centre for Anti-Corruption and State-Building". Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  21. GI-ACE. "Addressing bribery in the Tanzanian health sector: A behavioural approach". Global Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  22. GI-ACE. "Harnessing informality: Designing anti-corruption network interventions and strategic use of legal instruments". Global Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  23. FIFA.com. "Governance - News - Prof. Mark Pieth presented as chairman of Independent Governance Committee - FIFA.com". www.fifa.com. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  24. "Programa de Fortalecimiento de la Gestión e Finanzas Públicas a Nivel Subnacional para el Desarrollo de la Gestión Descentralizada – Programa de la Cooperación Suiza – SECO implementado por el Basel Institute on Governace en el Perú" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  25. Development, State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO-Economic Cooperation and. "Peru". www.seco-cooperation.admin.ch. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  26. "Public Finance Management programme in Peru achieves flying colours and enters a new four-year phase | Basel Institute on Governance". www.baselgovernance.org. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  27. "Combining Forces Archives". United For Wildlife. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  28. "Basel AML Index | Basel Institute on Governance". www.baselgovernance.org. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  29. "What the Basel AML Index Reveals About Global Money Laundering Risks". Money Laundering Watch. 2019-09-03. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  30. "Basel Open Intelligence | Basel Institute on Governance". www.baselgovernance.org. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  31. "International Partner Organizations - The Egmont Group". egmontgroup.org. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
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