G&D, one of the founding companies of the Banknote Ethics Initiative (BnEI), has passed the organization's accreditation process, after having completed the audit undertaken by KPMG. The Banknote Ethics Initiative was launched at the Currency Conference in May 2013. It was established to provide ethical business practice, with a focus on the prevention of corruption and on compliance with anti-trust law within the banknote industry.
For Ralf Wintergerst, Member of the Management Board and Group Executive Banknote at G&D, founding the BnEI was never a question: "The trust of our customers and partners is our most important asset; it basically must be a synonym for the banknote industry as a whole. We are and must be role models for irreproachable standards in our business dealings. To make this tangible and objective, we needed an industry standard being implemented and upheld by an independent body. For that purpose, we and five other companies in our industry founded the BnEI."
Membership with BnEI is tied to an accreditation which is based on an audit carried out by a third party auditor. The framework for this audit is an established set of principles for doing business responsibly. BnEI has developed it in cooperation with Good Corporation, one of the leading international companies specializing in corporate responsibility and business ethics. Once the audit is completed, results must be finally approved by BnEI's Accreditation Council.
"G&D passed the very demanding and tough audit carried out by KPMG. It is good to know that this is the industry standard," said Wintergerst "and we expect that every player in the industry will have to live up to this standard. The BnEI accreditation is the industry benchmark for all players in the market. Companies having passed the accreditation can be relied on to be performing to the highest ethical standards."
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