46
and to further increase the importance of
ethics in the decision-making process. Fe-
belfin Academy, the training institute of the
financial sector, for example, pays special
attention to ethical arguments in decision-
making. The course “Integriteitsmanage-
ment: Voor een gezonde bedrijfsvoering”
[
integrity management: for sound opera-
tional management] is a good example in
this respect. Moreover, ethical principles are
now more than ever crucial ingredients in
internal training sessions that employees of
financial institutions are obliged to attend
repeatedly.
Good governance in the EU
In various European consultations on good
governance, Belgian financial institutions had
themselves represented by Febelfin. The Fed-
eration, for instance, took part in discussions
in September 2010 when the European Com-
mission debated about Corporate Governance
in the Financial Institutions. In July 2011, they
also worked on the Green Paper on the EU
Corporate Governance Framework, in which
the regulatory framework for good gover-
nance in banks is described.
Based, amongst other things, on those initia-
tives, the European Commission is develop-
ing a plan of action on corporate governance.
One of the recommendations in this respect
is thought to be that all EU Member States
must have a body that verifies if regulations
imposed in respect of good governance are
duly complied with. At the beginning of 2013,
the plan of action will be published. The Com-
mission is expected to develop a series of ad-
ditional legislative initiatives based on its plan.
78%
of the banking sector (8 of
the 19 institutions partic-
ipating in the survey) in-
cludes in its management
boards (and/or commit-
tees) more independent,
external members than
mandatory in order to
counter abuse of power.
3.
>
GOOD GOVERNANCE