Taking anti-corruption enforcement to a new level, the World Bank Group today announced the debarment of two companies and, separately, the first-ever World Bank cross-debarments of firms, for engaging in corrupt and fraudulent practices in development projects. The announcement comes on the eve of the International Corruption Hunters Network meeting, which takes place December 6 – 8 at the World Bank’s headquarters.

“These enforcement actions are timely, coming as they do just before our meeting next week with the International Corruption Hunters Alliance.

Our hope is that the Alliance will facilitate our investigations and increase their impact to further eliminate fraud and corruption risks impacting development resources,” said Leonard McCarthy, World Bank Vice President for Integrity (INT). “An important item on our agenda is stepping up enforcement action as part of a global enforcement regime. These are examples of cases that could be scaled up with the support of Alliance members given the network’s multi-jurisdictional impact.” He also added that managing fraud and corruption risks is a prominent feature of the World Bank Group’s Governance and Anticorruption (GAC) agenda.

Kwaplah International Trading Co., Inc., a U.S.-based company, and its owner, Mr. Sherlock Mahn, together with any organization they directly or indirectly control, have been debarred for 12 years for engaging in corrupt and fraudulent practices in Bank-financed projects implemented in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Ukraine, Ghana, Gambia and Liberia. This is the second-longest debarment since the Bank began sanctioning firms in 1999. In making its decision, the World Bank’s Sanctions Board took into account the multiplicity of sanctionable practices committed by the company among other considerations. “This Sanctions Board Decision has laid down some brightline rules, following an extensive INT investigation that crossed multiple jurisdictions,” said Mr. McCarthy. “Companies and individuals who misuse development resources should know that, together with our partners, we are stepping up the fight against fraud and corruption, and they will be caught,” he added. In addition, the World Bank Sanctions Board debarred another company, “Elkri” for three years for engaging fraudulent practices in a Bank-financed project in Albania. The debarment may be reduced to two years upon implementation of an effective corporate compliance program. These rulings are eligible for cross debarment under the April 2010 Agreement for Mutual Enforcement of Debarment Decisions entered into by the African Development Bank Group, Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the World Bank Group and the Inter-American Development Bank Group. Under the agreement, entities debarred by one multilateral development bank (MDB) may be sanctioned for the same misconduct by other participating development banks, which translates into collective enforcement action. Based on that agreement, the World Bank also announced the its first cross-debarments, sanctioning 12 companies previously debarred by the Asian Development Bank for engaging in fraudulent and corruption practices in some of their projects. “Since the signing of the Cross-Debarment agreement earlier this year, INT has worked diligently with our MDB partners to ensure that enforcement is not delayed,” said McCarthy.“This enforcement action is sending a very powerful signal of how the global anticorruption landscape is fast forwarding. This progress cannot be reversed,” he added. About the International Corruption Hunters Alliance

Over 200 anti-corruption officials from more than 134 countries will meet for the first time at the World Bank’s headquarters in Washington on December 6-8, 2010 to help facilitate the investigation and prosecution of corrupt actors, including those who defraud World Bank projects. The meeting of the International Corruption Hunters Alliance, which flows from regional networks of anticorruption enforcement personnel the World Bank established over the past two years, will enable officials from developing countries to interact with counterparts from OECD countries, share information, and work toward a global enforcement regime.

By Craig Pumfrey, NICE Systems

Customers of financial services organisations have high expectations and a low tolerance of poor service. They want to interact and transact with their providers quickly and efficiently and at their convenience, whether this is on the telephone, web-site (self-service and live chat), mobile apps, email, SMS, IVR, or social media. However, simply providing access to multiple communication channels of communication isn’t enough to deliver the standard of customer experience that is demanded in such a competitive market.

Today, customers expect to be able to move seamlessly from one channel to the next and the organisation needs to be able to match their pace, and whenever possible get one step ahead. This is what has become commonly known in the industry as an omni-channel customer experience. In our latest survey measuring the channel preferences of customers, 74% of respondents reported challenges when switching from one channel to the next. Clearly there is work that needs to be done, and in order to create this seamless omni-channel experience, organisations need to make a cultural and technological shift.

Culturally, organisations need to stop trying to manage and measure customer engagement as a linear series of isolated transactions. It is about accompanying the customer on a journey, and this may take place in one interaction via a single communication channel or, as our latest research suggests, across an average of more than five channels. From a technology standpoint, financial service providers have traditionally been amongst the earliest to offer new customer contact channels. Now is the time to take the lead and break down the silos of data and begin joining the dots between them, mapping and tracking the individual journey of each customer. Here is an example of how getting it right can deliver an exceptional omni-channel customer experience.

Tom is 28-year old and uses his iPhone for the majority of his online banking needs. He sometimes visits the branch, but mostly uses the website and mobile app to check his balance and make payments. On this occasion he tries to set up a new payee for a bill but is having problems using the app. He is about to give up and call the contact centre, but because the bank is using customer engagement analytics to monitor all the interactions of a customer regardless of channel, it has spotted that Tom is having an issue and makes a pre-emptive move, sending him an invitation to speak directly to live representative. He accepts and is automatically routed to an agent who has his customer details already available to them on screen.

Tom prefers to assist himself (self-service) as he doesn’t have to wait in a queue to speak with an agent, so he is hugely is impressed when he isn’t kept on-hold. Another reason he doesn’t like to call is the need to go through the cumbersome security process. Authentication typically accounts for 25% of time spent on a call.

However, in this instance a real-time authentication solution was being used and his voice is automatically matched with his unique ‘voiceprint’ using voice biometrics technology. Tom is authenticated in less than 15 seconds, during which he has been addressing his issue with the agent – and not providing answers to questions, like his mother’s maiden name. The agent, on his side, also has the benefit of real-time guidance to assist in resolving the problem without the need to escalate the call, or make a call back. What more, the agent is able to explain to Tom what he was doing wrong, so he does not have the same issue again.  Whilst Tom is on the call, the agent also notices that he recently opened a saving account in a branch, but could now get a better interest and offers to switch him to the better deal. With the call completed, Tom is invited to provide feedback via an SMS to his iPhone about his experience, which he gladly gives.

In this example, the organisation recognises that rather than providing multiple service channels and waiting for the customer to initiate outreach, by tracking their interaction journey it is possible to pre-empt problems that customer are facing and then intervene at the right time to offer the right level of assistance. Furthermore, as the organisation has a Voice of the Customer solution to monitor all interactions taking place across all channels, it was also able to recognise that Tom’s issue wasn’t an isolated incident and as a result changed the existing process on the mobile app to make it easier for all customers to use.

It has never been easier for a consumer to move from one financial services provider to another, so don’t make it easier for your customers to switch provider than it is to switch between channels. Consumers may be more demanding than ever, but it is also true that there has never been a better time to provide consistently an exceptional customer experience to every customer along every journey.

James Dawson – the engineer of bespoke advanced silicone and organic rubber products – has appointed Chinese national Pan Feng as General Manager for Dawson Polymer Products in Shanghai, and Indian national Amit Kaul as Sales Manager-India in New Delhi.

Amit will report directly to Pan Feng in Shanghai, whom will report to James Dawson MD Paul Edwards in Lincoln, England.

Pan joins James Dawson from Trelleborg, having previously worked for large multinationals including Shell and Federal Express.  He is originally from Shanghai, but spent a number of years in Australia studying for an MBA. Pan becomes James Dawson’s first ever Chinese national General Manager of its operations in China.

Of Pan Feng’s appointment, Paul Edwards said: “Having always had British ex-pats filling the role of GM at our plant in Shanghai, we thought it was time to consider employing a local national.

“Pan was recommended to us by the outgoing General Manager who transferred to a sister company, as they had worked together previously.

“In order to ‘test the thinking’, a local recruitment firm was engaged to assess all the options – and Pan was successful in being appointed on his own merit. He fitted the bill perfectly, being a native of Shanghai, but having worked for many large multinational organisations in China.

“Pan has also studied overseas, and is fluent in English, making communication between the main plant in the UK and China very easy. Having a Chinese national appointed as the GM also means that he can communicate with both customers and employees in their own language.”

Of Amit Kaul, Paul said: “We have always believed in recruiting local sales representatives in local markets, from both a cultural aspect as well as language. This has proved very successful for us in Europe and North America, so the same thinking was applied to India.

“We felt that having a full time employee living locally within the market would offer the best value to our customers.

“Amit speaks fluent English and has experience of representing large multinationals in India, making him the ideal choice.”

James Dawson develops and manufactures high performance silicone and organic rubber hoses for a wide range of diverse markets, significantly diesel engine applications.  Key customers include global giants Caterpillar, JCB and Cummins and many other major OEMs around the world.

As part of the FTSE 250-listed Fenner Group, James Dawson enjoys significant investment for future global growth.

With manufacturing facilities in Lincoln and China, a warehouse in the USA, and regional sales offices in India and worldwide, James Dawson is a global leader in the provision of advance polymeric solutions.