No new year anti-corruption resolution for the majority of countries

Transparency International have updated their Corruption Perception Index… do you need to update your country risk list?

There are many things which might trigger firms to update their country risk lists, not least when integral source lists are updated. Today, Transparency International published an updated Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2021. A source usually considered when devising country risk ratings, the CPI is a useful indicator of what is happening around the World to combat public sector corruption. 

While some country rankings may be somewhat surprising, what’s perhaps not as surprising (but is disappointing), is the very little movement of these rankings in recent years. In fact, CPI report that 86% of countries have made little or no progress in the last 10 years - are we seeing the world hitting ‘pause’ on tackling corruption? Has the pandemic been the perfect enabler for corruption in some parts of the globe? 

Similarly, the EU published its updated list of High Risk Third Countries earlier this month. This list is another key data source firms should consider when applying risk ratings to countries which, in turn, should be built into the customer risk assessment to inform due diligence processes.  

So, when was the last time your firm’s country risk list was updated? Are you confident that your jurisdictional risk exposure is captured appropriately within your customer risk assessment? 

For more information on the country risk rating process, or customer risk assessments more broadly, don’t hesitate to get in touch.