Last week we hosted a customer forum with over 300 attendees. During the event a key topic of conversation was the soon to be in place (1 July) UK Bribery Act. The discussions closely mirrored a recent survey we conducted. What I heard – and the survey confirmed – is that very few companies say they are not ready (1 in 5 according to our survey) or that the board is not engaged (only 1 in 6 have had explicit board discussions). Board engagement is a requirement of the act.
The thing that struck me was that whilst the Serious Fraud Office might have fewer resources, the Financial Services Authority might take a strong role in enforcement – this is clearly a risk for many financial services firms, particularly the smaller companies who cannot afford the large expensive programmes and who tend to rely on third-parties across the industry.
Learn more about the survey here
