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Hearing on Protecting Scientific Integrity in the COVID-19 Response

The Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Energy and Commerce will hold a hearing on Thursday, May 14, 2020, at 10 a.m. in the John D. Dingell Room, 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing is entitled, “Protecting Scientific Integrity in the COVID-19 Response.”  




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Attorney General Eric Holder at the Opening Plenary of the VI Ministerial Global Forum on Fighting Corruption and Safeguarding Integrity

"We come here for two reasons: To celebrate what has been accomplished since Global Forum One; and – more important -- to recommit ourselves to the task that remains -- the task of fighting corruption wherever it manifests itself. We have made progress in this fight -- but we must do more."




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Attorney General Holder Speaks at the 14th Annual Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency Awards Ceremony

"Over the last few decades – and, especially, in recent years – your efforts have become essential not only in making the organizations you serve more efficient, more effective, and more accountable – but also in preserving the principles that define who we are, and must continue to be – both as a government, and as a people," said Attorney General Holder.




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Yokogawa Releases Plant Resource Manager (PRM) R4.03, a Software Package in the OpreX Asset Management and Integrity Family

Yokogawa Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6841) announces the November 14 release of Plant Resource Manager (PRM) R4.03, the latest version of a software package in the OpreX Asset Management and Integrity family that facilitates the monitoring and control of plant operations by centralizing the management of large volumes of data from instrumentation and manufacturing equipment. PRM R4.03 features powerful device diagnostic functions that help to optimize plant maintenance and ensure safe operations.




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Evaluating the impact of trauma and PTSD on epigenetic prediction of lifespan and neural integrity




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Fostering financial inclusion and financial integrity: Brookings roundtable readout


How can countries support innovative approaches to facilitating access to and usage of formal financial services among low-income and other marginalized groups while mitigating the risk of misuse within the financial sector?

As part of the Brookings Financial and Digital Inclusion Project (FDIP), the FDIP team recently hosted a roundtable to examine this central question. The objective of the roundtable was to identify and discuss salient challenges and opportunities for financial services providers, government entities, and consumers with respect to balancing anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) compliance — a critical component of financial integrity and stability — with inclusive financial access and growth.

We explore several key questions and themes that emerged from the roundtable below.

Do areas of synergy exist between financial inclusion and AML/CFT efforts?

  • AML/CFT requirements and financial inclusion have sometimes been perceived as being in tension with one another — for example, stringent “know your customer” (KYC) requirements associated with AML processes can restrict formal financial access among marginalized groups who are unable to fulfill the KYC documentation requirements. However, the objectives of AML/CFT (ensuring stability and integrity within the financial sector) and financial inclusion (providing access to and promoting usage of a broad range of appropriate, affordable financial services) can be mutually reinforcing.
  • By moving individuals from the shadow economy into the formal financial system, greater opportunities emerge for introducing underserved populations to a broad suite of formal financial services, and ensuring those services are accompanied by suitable consumer protections. Thus, financial inclusion, financial integrity, and financial stability can act as complementary objectives.
  • The 2012 Declaration of the Ministers and Representatives of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recognized financial exclusion as a money laundering and terrorist financing risk in approving FATF’s 2012-2020 Mandate. This mandate affirmed FATF’s 2011 guidance on AML and terrorist financing measures and financial inclusion, which stated that “[i]t is acknowledged at the same time that financial exclusion works against effective AML/CFT policies. Indeed the prevalence of a large informal, unregulated and undocumented economy negatively affects AML/CFT efforts and the integrity of the financial system. Informal, unregulated and undocumented financial services and a pervasive cash economy can generate significant money laundering and terrorist financing risks and negatively affect AML/CFT preventive, detection and investigation/prosecution efforts.”

What are key challenges and concerns with respect to balancing financial inclusion with financial integrity?

  • Awareness of financial inclusion issues is not universal among individuals who work in the regulatory, compliance, and law enforcement spheres of the financial ecosystem. Engagement among these groups is critical for promoting knowledge-sharing with respect to financial integrity and inclusion.
  • Although FATF and other standard-setting bodies (SSBs) have increasingly adopted recommendations favoring proportionate, risk-based approaches to AML/CFT (as evidenced by the 2013 FATF Guidance on Financial Inclusion), regulators often pursue more conservative approaches than SSB guidelines recommend. These conservative approaches may constrain access to and usage of formal financial services among marginalized groups.
  • Combating the potential use of low-value transfers within countries and across borders for terrorist financing purposes is a salient concern for the law enforcement community when considering proportionate AML/CFT approaches.

How does the digital component fit into these issues?

  • As its name suggests, FDIP is interested in exploring the evolving role of digital technology within the financial services ecosystem. As discussed in the 2015 FDIP Report, digitization of financial services can be more cost-effective for public and private sector providers to manage and safer for consumers than carrying or storing cash.
  • For example, a 2013 report found that the Mexican government saved about $1.3 billion annually by centralizing and digitizing payments for wages, pensions, and social transfers. A 2014 report by the World Bank Development Research Group, the Better Than Cash Alliance, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation highlighted several countries, including South Africa, where disbursing social transfers electronically cost significantly less than manual cash disbursement.
  • Digital financial services can also promote women’s economic empowerment, as these services are often more private and convenient to access than traveling to a “brick and mortar” financial service provider. Given that as of 2014 there was a 9 percentage point gap between the number of men and women with accounts in developing economies (with women disproportionately excluded from account ownership), facilitating access to formal financial services among the 42 percent of women globally who do not have an account will be a major factor in advancing financial inclusion.
  • With respect to financial integrity in particular, digital identification mechanisms such as biometric IDs can help lower access barriers to financial services while ensuring that providers have the information they need to promote security and stability in the financial ecosystem. In its June 2011 guidance, FATF recognized the use of non-documentary methods of identification verification — for example, a signed declaration from a community leader coupled with a photo taken by a mobile phone — for advancing access to formal financial services among underserved groups.
  • The Aadhaar initiative in India, which the FDIP team referenced in a previous post, is currently the largest biometric identification program in the world. The unique 12-digit ID enables individuals to meet KYC requirements and has been used as a financial account among those who do not have an account with a financial institution. Another innovative digital initiative is underway in Tanzania, where the government is working in concert with mobile carrier Tigo and UNICEF to provide birth certificates via mobile phones.

What are critical questions and areas of opportunity for fostering financial inclusion and integrity moving forward?

  • How can regulators and providers ensure sufficient privacy protections are in place for customers when advancing financial inclusion efforts, particularly through digital channels?
  • Through what mechanisms can government entities and non-government financial services providers best mitigate the risks of centralizing sensitive customer data?
  • Could an industry utility that facilitates a common solution to AML systems serve as a feasible solution for harmonizing standards?
  • What is the proper role of private solutions in the AML/CFT and financial inclusion spaces?
  • Could identification verification applications be developed using blockchain technology?
  • In what ways can social networks be leveraged with respect to digital identity initiatives and financial inclusion?

Authors

Image Source: © Jorge Cabrera / Reuters
       




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Artificial intelligence, geopolitics, and information integrity

Much has been written, and rightly so, about the potential that artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to create and promote misinformation. But there is a less well-recognized but equally important application for AI in helping to detect misinformation and limit its spread. This dual role will be particularly important in geopolitics, which is closely…

       




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Terraced 'agritecture' house combines architecture with urban agriculture

Referencing traditional terraced agriculture, this modern house with terraces has an integrated rainwater collection and irrigation system that would allow it to grow greenery.




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Watford chairman questions integrity of 'distorted mini-league' at neutral venues

  • Scott Duxbury: ‘How is there any semblance of fairness?’
  • League would ‘bear no resemblance to the one we started’

Watford have joined Aston Villa and Brighton in voicing objections to the Premier League’s plan to play out the season at neutral venues on police advice, claiming it would be unfair to relegate clubs on the basis of a competition that “bears no resemblance to the one that was started”.

Sitting just above the bottom three when the league was suspended and uncomfortably aware Villa could leapfrog them if they play and win their game in hand, Watford were due to play five of their remaining nine fixtures at Vicarage Road and feel that being deprived of home advantage could affect the number of points they gather.

Continue reading...




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Tax-News.com: South African Tax Man Stresses Integrity Of Tax Refund System

The South African Revenue Service announced on October 30 that it had paid over ZAR120bn (USD8.4bn) in refunds across all tax types in the last seven months, from the beginning of April of the tax season to date.




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Ensuring Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying

On 8 June 2012 an International Seminar on « Ensuring Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying : Towards a Regulatory Framework » will take place in Moscow, Russia.




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Boosting integrity, fighting corruption

This brochure describes the multiple domains where the OECD is engaged in fighting corruption and boosting integrity. It relates how the CleanGovBiz initiative is drawing together for the first time these anti-corruption tools under a single umbrella.




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Tax Morale and Integrity in Developing Countries

As part of OECD Integrity Week 2019 (18-22 March), this event will bring together international experts to discuss these issues of integrity, transparency and trust in the tax system, and the research, tools and approaches needed to identify and implement policies to increase tax morale.




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Boosting integrity, fighting corruption

This brochure describes the multiple domains where the OECD is engaged in fighting corruption and boosting integrity. It relates how the CleanGovBiz initiative is drawing together for the first time these anti-corruption tools under a single umbrella.




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OECD Integrity Forum 2015

Integrity Week is an annual event organised by the OECD and its CleanGovBiz Initiative to actively support governments and organisations in their efforts to strengthen integrity, build trust, and fight corruption.




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Uzbekistan must enforce anti-corruption laws and strengthen public sector integrity

Uzbekistan has adopted its first anti-corruption action plan and established an anti-corruption coordination commission. Nevertheless corruption is widespread in Uzbekistan and remains a key obstacle for business.




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2016 OECD Integrity Forum

International trade is a motor of the global economy and represents increasingly large volumes of exchanged goods, services, and financial flows. Yet, corruption in the trade chain hampers economic activity and entails important health and safety risks for societies.The 2016 OECD Integrity Forum will put the spotlight on this hidden tariff.




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Business Integrity in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

This study explores what governments, business associations, NGOs, and companies do in order to strengthen business integrity with a particular focus on anti-corruption measures in and for the private sector in countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, as well as in selected other countries.




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2017 OECD Global Anti-Corruption & Integrity Forum

The 2017 OECD Global Anti-Corruption and Integrity Forum will tackle issues related to fair competition and economic growth, the inequality gap, a level playing field for business, the public interest in policy making and trust in government and politics




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Advisory Group on Anti-Corruption and Integrity Delivers Recommendations for OECD

An independent group of leading anti-corruption and integrity experts recommends doing more to enforce and develop anti-corruption standards and enhancing collaboration with other international organisations in a report on ways the OECD can strengthen its vital work in combating bribery and promoting integrity.




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Brazil: Enhancing audit reporting is key to the integrity of government accounts

Brazil’s supreme audit institution – the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) – has began a process to reform its audit of the Accounts of the President of the Republic to enhance transparency and accountability of federal budget execution.




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Ensuring Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying

On 8 June 2012 an International Seminar on « Ensuring Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying : Towards a Regulatory Framework » will take place in Moscow, Russia.




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Brazil: Enhancing audit reporting is key to the integrity of government accounts

Brazil’s supreme audit institution – the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) – has began a process to reform its audit of the Accounts of the President of the Republic to enhance transparency and accountability of federal budget execution.




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OECD Forum on Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying

The Forum addressed key challenges in designing and implementing a system that ensures compliance in a cost-effective way.




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Integrity and the crisis: How to earn back the trust of young people?

How can we earn back the trust of young people? Improving openness, transparency, accountability, and access to information is essential. On the occasion of the International Anti-Corruption Day and Transparency International’s 20th Anniversary, the OECD and Transparency International are inviting young people for a discussion about how to push the integrity agenda forward together.




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Lobbying: an opaque activity of dubious integrity? Insights blog

OECD blog article on the lobbying, written for the launch of the publication "Lobbyists, Government and Public Trust, Volume 3".




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Launch of OECD Integrity Review of Mexico

The Government of Mexico have requested an OECD Integrity Review focusing on anti-corruption, conflict of interest prevention and integrity in the public service.




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OECD Integrity Forum 2015

Integrity Week is an annual event organised by the OECD and its CleanGovBiz Initiative to actively support governments and organisations in their efforts to strengthen integrity, build trust, and fight corruption.




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More effort needed on government integrity to help restore public trust

Countries need to do more to identify and reduce conflicts of interest and other breaches of integrity to help win back trust in national governments, which surveys suggest remains below pre-crisis levels, according to a new OECD report.




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Creating Cultures of Integrity, OECD Insights blog

There are concrete steps that can be taken in achieving a culture of integrity. To achieve this, we work with countries to adopt a whole-of-society approach. That means all stakeholders, public, private and civil society, must work together to make it happen.




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2016 OECD Integrity Forum

International trade is a motor of the global economy and represents increasingly large volumes of exchanged goods, services, and financial flows. Yet, corruption in the trade chain hampers economic activity and entails important health and safety risks for societies.The 2016 OECD Integrity Forum will put the spotlight on this hidden tariff.




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2017 OECD Global Anti-Corruption & Integrity Forum

The 2017 OECD Global Anti-Corruption and Integrity Forum will tackle issues related to fair competition and economic growth, the inequality gap, a level playing field for business, the public interest in policy making and trust in government and politics




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Athens hosts Forum on Public Integrity to tackle corruption 11-12 July, 2017

Combatting corruption and restoring trust in institutions by upholding the principles of public integrity will be at the heart of a major conference in Athens from 11-12 July 2017.




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Boosting integrity, fighting corruption

This brochure describes the multiple domains where the OECD is engaged in fighting corruption and boosting integrity. It relates how the CleanGovBiz initiative is drawing together for the first time these anti-corruption tools under a single umbrella.




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Corporate Governance and Business Integrity: A Stocktaking of Corporate Practices

This report takes stock of corporate practices tying business integrity considerations into corporate governance frameworks, strategy and operations. It also assesses what factors influence business decisions to implement business integrity measures in practice. This report is a timely response to a succession of disturbing corporate scandals to which no industry or country appears to be immune.




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Trade facilitation and integrity go hand in hand? More than you think - OECD Insights blog

Is there a role for trade liberalisation and facilitation in zeroing in on corruption and supporting integrity in trade? Yes – and a greater one than you might think.




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2017 OECD Global Anti-Corruption & Integrity Forum

The 2017 OECD Global Anti-Corruption and Integrity Forum will tackle issues related to fair competition and economic growth, the inequality gap, a level playing field for business, the public interest in policy making and trust in government and politics




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OECD Global Anti-Corruption and Integrity Forum

27-28 March 2018, Paris: Under the theme “Planet Integrity”, the Forum will debate how integrity cultivates a level playing field for business, reduces socio-economic inequalities, and makes public policies more effective - enhancing the benefits of globalisation for all.




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Multi-stakeholder sports integrity taskforces established

The International Partnership against Corruption in Sport (IPACS), a recently established multi-stakeholder platform, agreed to set up three taskforces to help tackle corruption in sport at its meeting at the OECD in Paris on 14 to 15 December 2017.




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Education leaders look for students with practical potential and ‘Midlands grit’

Teaching geared to developing ‘ability to use wide range of career skills’




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Snow and strikes are no obstacles for gritty women

Are women more committed than men when it comes to getting to the office?




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Louis Smith goes back to basics for a gritty shoot revealing the punishing nature of sport

He is a triple Olympic medallist for gymnastics - but new heartthrob Louis Smith has warned against underestimating the sport




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Family's vintage vacation footage shows a grittier New York City during the 1976 holiday season

A video shared by Stuart Bailey shows the Big Apple in the full swing of its more tumultuous decade, when the city was in the midst of a financial crisis.




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Jill Stein will use leftover millions from recount for 'election integrity' campaign

Stein, who netted one percent of the national popular vote, will receive a refund of $2 million after raising just over $7.3 million for recounts in three states. The money will go to Count My Vote.




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Watford chairman questions integrity of finishing...

The Hornets have joined Brighton and Aston Villa in making their opposition to the current `Project Restart´ plans clear.




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Verify high frequency signal integrity on printed circuit boards

Verify high frequency signal integrity on printed circuit boards




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Russian officials suspended by Athletics Integrity Unit for serious breaches of anti-doping rules

The prospect of Russian track and field athletes taking part in the Tokyo Olympics are looking slimmer after the president of the country's athletics federation was charged on Thursday.




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Family's vintage vacation footage shows a grittier New York City during the 1976 holiday season

A video shared by Stuart Bailey shows the Big Apple in the full swing of its more tumultuous decade, when the city was in the midst of a financial crisis.




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Chris Hemsworth stars in Netflix's gritty new action film Extraction

Chris Hemsworth stars as mercenary anti-hero Tyler Rake in Netflix's new heart-stopping blockbuster Extraction. 




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Tennis Integrity Unit plans to step up prevention efforts amid fears over a rise in match-fixing  

Tennis integrity chiefs fear a spike in corrupted matches when tournaments resume, as lower-ranked players become more desperate to make ends meet.