The Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance (MCDF) and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) cohosted a workshop at AIIB headquarters in Beijing on 27 November to help emerging market financiers fight corruption in infrastructure projects via International Financial Institution (IFI) practices and standards.

Experts discussed IFI anti-corruption approaches and how they can be applied by financial institutions in China and other developing countries to mitigate investment and reputational risks when planning, preparing, and delivering infrastructure projects overseas.

In opening remarks, MCDF CEO Wang Zhongjing noted the progress of policies to combat corruption in cross-border infrastructure development and the importance of experience sharing for further strengthening anti-corruption and integrity practices among financial institutions.

“International Financial Institution standards can enable emerging market financiers to reduce corruption and associated risks,” said CEO Wang. “Promoting broader understanding and application of anti-corruption good practices is critical to sustainable connectivity infrastructure growth and a priority of MCDF and partners.”

Lu Jin, Deputy Director General of the International Financial and Economic Cooperation Department at China’s Finance Ministry, explained how IFI standards can boost integrity risk control and compliance as Chinese financial institutions expand their business participation in overseas infrastructure projects.

Marvin Taylor-Dormond, Managing Director of the AIIB Complaints Resolution, Evaluation, and Integrity Unit, described the bank’s policy on prohibited practices which he said is both pivotal for ensuring proper use of resources for infrastructure development and aligned with other IFIs.

Workshop participants went on to examine infrastructure-related corruption risks in developing countries, including typical schemes, the scale of the problem, limitations of existing practices for addressing it, and emerging better practices.

They explored IFI processes for managing corruption risks when lending and investing, drawing upon presentations by experts from AIIB, the Asian Development Bank, and World Bank and guided by moderator Hamish Goldie-Scot, MCDF’s Senior Anti-Corruption and Transparency Consultant. They also considered the applicability and limitations of IFI processes based on Chinese banks’ needs.

Zhou Gengqiang, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Banking Association, concluded the workshop by highlighting the large investment amounts and long recovery period of infrastructure projects and the value of learning from IFIs’ experience and capability for risk prevention and control.

To further build anti-corruption and integrity capacity among emerging market financiers, MCDF hopes to join together with its IFI partners to organize comparable training activities for infrastructure actors in other regions of the world.

 

 

 

 

Media Contact
David Hendrickson
Senior Communications Officer
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david.hendrickson@themcdf.org