The fight against corruption is at a standstill in almost the entire world according to the 2022 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index. In fact, 95% of countries have made minimal or no progress since 2017.
In the face of this reality, compliance plays a fundamental role in the prevention of crime and bad practices within companies. It also alerts companies to risks and ensures their adherence to local and international legislation, which may allow them to exempt themselves from criminal liability if one or more of their members is involved in an act of corruption.
Many companies have compliance programs that exist only on paper, but they do not put them into operation and thus skip the processes and policies that prevent bad practices. These companies may find themselves involved in a case of corruption, even if the crime has been committed by only one member of the company. That is why it is so important to have functioning compliance programs that yield evidence, to prove that these companies are doing everything possible to avoid such events.
Herein lies the relevance of technology in the fight against corruption, and blockchain is a good example. As its very name suggests, it is a chain of blocks, a distributed database that facilitates keeping a record of transactions and documentation, created to prevent the information from being modified once it is published, and therefore making it incorruptible.
Blockchain and Compliance, a perfect match
In the context of compliance, blockchain technology can play a key role in helping companies boost their crime prevention programs.
The continuous monitoring of the companies’ compliance programs generates the necessary evidence for the company to demonstrate that its processes and checks –both internal and external – work and are complied with. This information is stored in the blockchain, through end-to-end encryption, recording identical copies in multiple locations, that is, in a decentralized manner. By doing so, the data is sealed, ensuring its integrity, and preventing it from being modified, which helps to reduce the risk of fraud or falsification, preserve evidence, systematize good practices, and guarantee greater transparency and traceability of the processes.
Through blockchain, a digital fingerprint is created for all the evidence generated. It is unalterable, and will ensure the integrity of the data years after it has been collected, increasing the value of the compliance program and acting as a shield of protection for the company and its board of directors. Thus, in the event that a company is involved in a corruption case, it can defend itself, demonstrating the evidence collected, which will be credible throughout the world, because it can be demonstrated that it was generated and safeguarded without modifications.
Therefore, compliance and blockchain are the perfect match to fight corruption, helping companies to ensure their processes in a more transparent and efficient way, and ensuring that the information is unalterable.
BH Compliance uses blockchain technology to ensure the integrity of the data generated through its clients’ compliance programs, protecting companies against bad practices and proving that they have done everything possible to prevent corruption.
If you would like to know more about this service, contact us!
