Introduction
Bribery, whether committed in the UK or abroad, is a criminal offence under the Bribery Act 2010. In addition, as an FCA regulated firm, we are also subject to regulatory requirements to prevent our business being used for the purpose of facilitating financial crime, including bribery and corruption.
 
We are committed to the prevention of bribery and corruption and have taken a risk based and proportionate approach which is reflective of the nature and scale of our business activities.  At a high level we will:

• Ensure senior management take lead responsibility for our anti-bribery stance;

• Identify, assess, manage, monitor and document our bribery and corruption risks on an ongoing basis;

• Ensure our bribery and corruption risk is taken into account in our day to day operations, including in relation to new customer take-on and our relationships with third parties;

• Continue to assess our bribery and corruption risks on an on-going basis;

• Conduct on-going monitoring of adherence to our policies and procedures to ensure they remain appropriate and proportionate for our business;

• Communicate our anti-bribery stance internally and provide regular training to all staff and where appropriate to other associated persons; and

• Provide appropriate management information to our Board.

 
The firm has zero tolerance for bribery and corruption in any form.
 
What constitutes a ‘bribe’?
A bribe would occur if a person associated with us bribes another person with the intention of obtaining or retaining business, or a business advantage for our firm.  ‘Associated person’ can include, for example:

• Employees;

• Agents;

• Subsidiaries;

• Contractors and suppliers; and

• Joint venture partners.

 
To assess whether bribery has been committed, an ‘expectation test’ is applied which constitutes an assessment of what a reasonable person in the UK would expect in relation to the performance of the function and/or activity of the person receiving the alleged bribe.
 
Only in jurisdictions where local written law permits the acceptance of financial or other advantages in relation to identified functions or activities will the offer or provision of advantages in relation to those functions not be classed as bribery.

Facilitation payments
Bribes and facilitation payments are regarded as being one and the same. Facilitation payments are expressly prohibited unless there is a risk to life, limb or liberty. Any such payments must be reported immediately to the Compliance Officer and recorded, with the justification documented.

What is ‘corruption’?
Corruption is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery. We should be alert to the risk of being used by politically exposed persons (‘PEPs’) and other high-risk customers to launder the proceeds of corruption.
 
The penalty for bribery and corruption
You have an obligation to understand and comply with our procedures in relation to bribery and corruption prevention.  Failure to do so could result in a criminal conviction and a fine - the penalties can be severe.

Criminal sanctions
Offences: Maximum Penalty
Active bribery – offering, promising or giving a bribe:10 years’ imprisonment, a fine or both
Passive bribery – receiving or agreeing to receive a bribe:10 years’ imprisonment, a fine or both
Bribing a foreign public official:10 years’ imprisonment, a fine or both
Corporate offence – failure on the part of a commercial organisation to prevent bribery: Unlimited fine
 
As a firm we may have a defence against the corporate offence if we can show that we have adequate procedures in place which are designed to prevent bribery.  To assist with this the Ministry of Justice has published guidance about these procedures.
 
Who has to comply with this policy?
This policy applies to the following:

• all employees, including senior management; 

• all contract and temporary staff;

• any third parties acting on our behalf (e.g. consultants, intermediaries, introducers, joint venture partners);

• appointed representatives.

 
Breaches of this policy by any person to whom it applies will be dealt with severely in accordance with our disciplinary procedures.
 
Top level commitment
Our Board takes responsibility for our anti-bribery stance.  Day to day responsibility is delegated to the Compliance Officer who will act as the focal point for all activity in the firm relating to the prevention of bribery and corruption. Their responsibilities include:

• training monitoring and completion;

• results of post-training assessments;

• staff vetting results (new starters);

• staff vetting results (existing staff);

• outcome of DBS checks;

• outcome of CCJ checks;

• output of anti-bribery and corruption compliance monitoring;

• gifts and entertainment given and received;

• third party payments made and the rationale for these;

• results of due diligence conducted on third parties;

• whistleblowing reports;

• breaches;

• number of third-party relationships;

• number of ‘high risk’ third party relationships;

• number and nature of relationships with PEPs;

• Provision of appropriate management information to senior management.

 
Regular and timely management information will be provided to our Board so they can provide oversight of the efficacy of our policies and procedures.
 
Risk assessment
We must take a risk-based and proportionate approach to the prevention of bribery. In order that we can do this effectively we must understand and regularly assess the bribery and corruption risks we face.

Risk assessment process
Our risk assessment process is dynamic.  It is reviewed and updated on an annual basis as the environment and markets in which we operate change and evolve.  This process is owned by the Compliance Officer. However, the Board will determine our overall approach to the prevention of bribery in line with our risk tolerance.
 
We will use internal and external sources of information which will assist us in categorising the bribery risks to our firm.  Internal sources may include management information relating to employees’ completion of anti-bribery training or the results of reviews of third-party relationships.  External sources may include the Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index to assist in identifying higher-risk jurisdictions or results of reviewing anti-bribery procedures in place in partner firms.
 
Once completed, the risk assessment is reviewed on an on-going basis in light of any changes within our business, for example if we begin to operate in a new, higher-risk industrial sector.  Irrespective of this, our bribery risk assessment is reviewed and revised as appropriate at least annually.
 
Due diligence

Mitigating the risks related to our ‘associated persons’
Associated persons are persons who provide services either for us or on our behalf and includes both internal and external associated persons.  We have implemented a number of procedures to mitigate the risks posed by internal associated persons (i.e. employees and other staff) and these are set out in Section 11 onwards. 
Our external associated persons can include outsourced service providers, IT providers and, in certain circumstances, joint venture partners.  To mitigate the risk posed by external associated persons we have put in place the following due diligence procedures:
 
Category of associated persons

• Due diligence to be applied/ Frequency

Suppliers (including IT providers, cleaning staff) and external consultants

• Background checks to include review of their website content as to own anti bribery policies/ Prior to signing terms of engagement.

• Ensuring contract wording explicitly states that we may terminate our relationship should we ascertain that the supplier is or has been involved in bribery while acting as our associated person/ Prior to signing terms of engagement.

• Checks for negative media/ Prior to signing terms of engagement.

• PEP checks/ Prior to signing terms of engagement.

• Obtaining references/ Prior to signing terms of engagement.

Joint venture partners and clients.

• All diligence as above/ Prior to signing terms of engagement.

• Repeating warranties/ Annually

 
Risk of clients accepting bribes
We are aware that there is a risk of our clients accepting bribes in return for placing business with us.  To help mitigate the risk of our employees offering bribes to potential or existing clients we have put controls in place around:

• Staff vetting and recruitment;

• Ongoing vetting;

• Payments; and

• Remuneration.

 
Refer to further sections of this document for more information with regard to this.
 
We further mitigate the reputational risk of doing business with corrupt clients by applying appropriate levels of customer due diligence as set out in Part One of this document.

Risk of clients using our firm to launder the proceeds of bribery and corruption
We are also aware that there is a risk of our customers using our services to launder the proceeds of corruption. You should refer to the Financial Crime Manual for details of the due diligence, which we apply to customers on a risk-sensitive basis to mitigate this risk.

Communication and training

Communication
We are committed to communicating our anti-bribery policies and procedures on a regular basis both internally to our employees and externally to our clients and the wider market.

Training
In addition to communicating our policies and procedures to staff, we are also committed to providing our employees with regular training. This ensures that they have the requisite knowledge and skills to be able to recognise potential instances of bribery and apply our policies and procedures correctly.
 
All new staff complete anti-bribery training at the start of their employment and complete a test to validate their understanding of the internal policies and procedures. Records of completion of the training and tests will be retained on HR files.
 
Anti-bribery training will be provided to all existing staff on an annual basis and a test must be completed to demonstrate understanding. Records of completion of the training and tests will be retained in the Compliance drive.
 
Monitoring and review
To ensure that our procedures remain appropriate to the risks that we face as a firm and that they are adhered to, we conduct on-going monitoring in the form of:

• annual compliance reviews including monitoring of adherence to anti-bribery and corruption policies and procedures;

• on-going monitoring and review of all payments out;

• cross-checking expenses payments against the Gifts and Entertainment Log to ascertain whether all relevant gifts and expenses have been logged;

• reviews of the Gifts and Entertainment Log;

• reviews of the due diligence conducted on new third parties (including contractors, agents, etc.) prior to take-on, including the rationale for establishing the relationships;

• rolling reviews of the due diligence obtained on existing third parties and their activities to ensure that this remains appropriate and whether a case still exists for maintaining the relationship; and

• on-going reviews of the activities of any clients who are PEPs or who may present a higher risk of bribery and corruption.

 
The outcome of any monitoring undertaken will be provided to the Board. They will be actively involved in guiding any remedial action required to address inadequacies identified as a result of the monitoring undertaken.
 
Responding to bribery and corruption events

Internal events
Where we identify that an instance of bribery has taken place, we will take all actions necessary to determine the underlying cause of the incident and to address this. Senior management will be responsible for deciding whether we should self-report to the Serious Fraud Office and the FCA. The Compliance Officer is responsible for managing communications with these authorities.
 
Dependent on the nature of the breach, disciplinary action may be taken against any individual(s) identified as responsible.  In severe or systemic cases, this may result in dismissal. It may also result in criminal prosecution under the Act.

External events
External bribery events may include prosecutions under the Act, enforcement actions taken against FCA-regulated firms, the publication of reports relating to levels of bribery and corruption in the jurisdictions in which we do business, and the publication of the output of FCA thematic reviews relating to firms’ anti-bribery and corruption systems and controls.
 
To ensure that our anti-bribery policies remain adequate and appropriate, we undertake to review the following:

• bribery and/or corruption-related FCA enforcement actions; and

• the FCA’s Financial Crime Guide for Firms;

 
Staff recruitment and vetting
To mitigate the risk of employees exposing us to increased bribery risks, we undertake checks on new and existing employees as outlined below. Where new staff are recruited through employment agencies, we will request evidence of the tests having been undertaken and favourable results obtained before making any formal offers of employment.
 
The take-on of new staff will be conditional on the outcome of the above tests. In the case of existing staff, unfavourable test results will be reviewed by senior management and action taken in accordance with their judgement. We expect agency/temporary/contract staff to have been subjected to the same checks as all other employees prior to joining the firm. We request confirmation of this from recruitment agents prior to take-on.
 
New staff (prior to take-on) & Existing staff (post-take-on)

• DBS checks

• CCJ checks

• Credit checks

• PEP checks

• Sanctions checks

New staff (prior to take-on)

• Personal references

• Employment references

• ID checks (in accordance with AML procedures)

 
Gifts and hospitality
Staff may not offer, give, solicit or accept, any gift, hospitality, or other benefit or inducement (financial or non-monetary) that:

• impairs compliance with our duty to act in the best interests of its client;

• could be construed as a bribe or payoff; or

• violates any law or ethical standard.

 
We have strict guidelines dictating what we as a firm consider to be appropriate in terms of gifts, hospitality and promotional expenditure and the procedure that must be followed.  These are set out in the Gifts and Hospitality Policy/Inducements Policy.
 
Charitable donations
As an organisation we support the idea of charitable giving.
 
To mitigate the risk of any donations which we make being used or perceived as being used to commit an act of bribery, any charitable donations to be made on behalf of the firm should be referred to the Compliance Officer, so that they may agree and record the donation before it is made.
 
As part of their review process prior to making any donations, the reviewer will consider whether any obvious links may exist between the charity to which we propose to make the donation and any existing or future clients. Where such a link exists and the reviewer considers there to be a risk that a donation may be or may be perceived to be a bribe, we will decline the proposed donation.
 
Incident reporting
Suspected instances of bribery should be reported internally via the Whistleblowing Procedure to enable them to be assessed by the Compliance Officer.
 
Where the Board considers there to be sufficient grounds to suspect that an instance of bribery may have taken place, they will report the incident to the SFO and co-operate fully with any subsequent investigation into the incident. They will also take disciplinary action against the individual concerned.
 
Where the Board is unable to establish with any certainty that an instance of bribery has taken place it will be at their discretion to decide whether to report the incident to the SFO.

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