Fight against corruption

As a public development bank, Sfil is fully aware of the threats and risks that corruption poses to its ability to carry out its missions, to its reputation and, consequently, to the confidence of its investors. As such, Sfil attaches the utmost importance to the fight against corruption both within the Bank itself and in the projects it refinances.

Sfil has zero tolerance for corruption. Under no circumstances can the belief that one is acting in the interest of Sfil justify, even in part, behavior that contradicts the provisions of applicable laws and its Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct.

In 2019, as part of its CSR approach and Sfil’s accession to the United Nations Global Compact in 2018, the Code was supplemented by a code of conduct on anti-corruption in line with the 10th principle of the Compact, which states: “Companies are asked to act against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery”.

Sfil has adopted a system for the prevention of corruption, which aims in particular to ensure that:

• the risks of corruption have been correctly identified and analyzed
• these risks are duly governed by appropriate rules and procedures
• managers and employees exposed to these risks have been made aware of and trained in the commitments made by Sfil in the fight against corruption so that they implement the bank’s corruption prevention program in their missions.

The main rules of this corruption prevention mechanism are set out in the “Anti-Corruption Code of Conduct”.

Gifts and invitations

Sfil also strictly supervises the receipt and granting of gifts or invitations by employees, to guard against any attempt at corruption, but also to guarantee the independence and impartiality of all its employees. To this end, and as part of its duty of transparency, Sfil has a procedure in place for gifts and invitations. It complements the code of ethics and professional conduct and, in particular, the code of conduct on anti-corruption. All employees must refuse any gift or invitation from a third party that could compromise their independence of judgment or that could suggest, outside Sfil, that they could be influenced.

The following are specifically prohibited:

• the granting or receipt of a sum of money, or anything else of value, with the aim of obtaining an advantage or influencing a decision;
• the receipt or provision of a gift outside the professional context, of an unreasonable value or on too frequent a basis;
• the giving or receiving of gifts during a strategic period: calls for tenders, calls for applications, signing of agreements, renewal of contracts, voting, ongoing contract negotiations, etc.;
• the concealment of gifts or invitations (e.g. paid for by an employee from their own account)
• the granting or receipt of gifts or invitations to or from relatives of employees (e.g. accepting an invitation to an event for a relative).
• gifts and invitations offered to Public Officials when they have been solicited by the latter or as part of a refinancing operation.