Assess risk from overseas ops: report

DT News Network

Manama 

Many organisations are seeking to expand their operations overseas as part of their growth strategies. In Bahrain, as well as around the world, globalization has entered a new phase, posing greater challenges for anti-bribery and corruption (ABC) compliance than ever before. 

Two factors are creating new issues for companies, according to a recent report by KPMG International.

First, a growing number of governments around the world are tightening ABC regulations or introducing new ones as we see in Bahrain. In the light of Kingdom’s expanding corporate culture, the government has introduced Law Number 01/2013 to expand the Amiri Decree Number 15/1976, in order to address bribery and corruption across both the public and private sectors.  Second, as companies globalise their operations, they rely more heavily on third parties than before to do business in far-flung parts of the world, often in areas where there is a high risk of corruption. 

Jeyapriya Partiban, Risk Consulting Partner at KPMG in Bahrain said: “The government has worked hard to enforce strict laws on bribery and corruption. However, as the global report highlights, with GCC based organizations and businesses increasingly investing overseas, reliance on and managing risk with third parties can be a challenge and adequate controls and monitoring must be put in place.” 

The survey, conducted by KPMG International with respondents from around the world, shows that companies are rising to the challenge but that a great deal more needs to be done to create a sturdy ABC compliance
structure.