2022 Anti-Bribery and Corruption Report

This year’s survey further examines these innovations, including the uneven adoption of distributed ledger technology in ABC programs. And given the rapidly shifting views on incorporating environmental, social, and governance into ABC programs last year, we investigate the progress made to date and what is left to be done.

Also, for this year, 14 countries were represented in our survey, with 50 participants hailing from each one, including Australia, Hong Kong SAR, Greater China, Singapore, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Canada and the United States. Based on respondent insights, this report individually analyzes results at a macro and micro level, demonstrating a broad spectrum of diverse geographies and challenges.

Other key findings include a high level of agreement that the compliance function will take on more responsibilities in 2022, although compliance leaders feel supported. Respondents who believed their compliance programs are effective attributed this confidence to internal audits and third-party program reviews that confirm their programs work and to a lack of bribery incidents reported to date.

Thank you for spending time to review these results, and as always, Kroll is available to further discuss the details of these findings and to collaborate with you in improving your ABC compliance, readiness and program objectives.

ESG’s Role in Anti-Bribery and Corruption: Burden or Benefit?

In 2022, 48% of the respondents stated their firms boosted their ABC programs with greater consideration for all the key aspects of the ‘E’, ‘S’ and ‘G’ of ESG compliance. Of increased importance were factors related to air and water pollution, labor rights, climate change mitigation, human rights abuses and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) matters. Yet 2022 respondents reaffirmed the challenges ESG brings to the compliance function, including limited data and a lack of standardization, transparency, regulation and cost when it comes to due diligence.

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Looking Ahead

In a post-pandemic work environment, the key question remains: Which business challenges, risks and opportunities will change anti-bribery and corruption programs long term? As we come out of the pandemic, organizations must adopt lessons learned from the greater use of remote monitoring of third-party relationships and remote trainings, as well as maintain their focus on identifying and addressing emerging risks in their supply chains. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) and anti-bribery and corruption (ABC) compliance will continue to converge because of their shared opportunities for good governance, as well as the growing calls for standardization, transparency and regulation.

When we look back on 2022, our hope is that the year is a pivotal moment for the compliance function in several ways, not only for how multilateral sanctions are used but also a renewed focus for governments and societies in the fight against corruption. The challenge of expecting private companies to enforce sanctions presents an opportunity to improve corporate data and drive greater transparency that ultimately will deliver accountability in the corporate environment for many of our clients. Additionally, with the increasing emergence of blockchain technologies in ABC programs, the road toward compliance resilience and transparency is potentially optimistic and achievable.

During this time of ongoing change, the role of the compliance function to safeguard their organizations against risk has never been more vitally important to all those who are responsible for regulatory requirements around the globe.

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