The Worshipful Company of International Bankers

www.internationalbankers.co.uk

A Banquet at Guildhall in The City of London
February 2011

THE INTERNATIONAL BANKERS - BRINGING THE CITY LIVERY TRADITION TO TODAY’S FINANCIAL SERVICES PROFESSIONALS

The Worshipful Company of International Bankers is the only City of London livery company dedicated to financial services professionals. The Company comprises a major body of experience in the banking, capital markets and related arenas in the UK and abroad. Members have the opportunity to access the collective and individual experience of fellow financial services professionals from all levels of the industry.

By joining the Company, members benefit from the rich tradition of the City livery companies which date back almost a thousand years. The company provides:

- Fellowship and educational knowledge sharing with over 700 financial services professionals representing more than 40 nationalities from over 250 institutions. The Company provides various forums for information exchange with speakers coming from the highest levels of Government, the City, Banks and elsewhere;

- Participation in the City of London’s traditions, including access to events at historic and otherwise restricted venues including the Guildhall, the Mansion House and City Livery Halls. Members can apply for Freeman status and progress to Liveryman. These positions allow for more active participation in the governance of both the Company and the City of London; and

- Charitable activities, including philanthropic support of scholarship programmes to City students and mentoring students, together with the provision of employment opportunities.

Join us and be part of a City tradition!
 

PRINCIPLES FOR GOOD BUSINESS CONDUCT

Introduction

The core purpose of international financial service providers is to promote global economic and social welfare by aggregating financial resources, converting them into specific services and products and delivering them in accordance with the mandates of their clients, customers and counterparties. Both the public good and the personal interest that stands behind this purpose and the capacity of providers to fulfil their mandates on a competitive, efficient and cost-effective basis can be substantially impaired, even frustrated, by dishonesty or by a lack of professional integrity, transparency and accountability. Accordingly, financial service firms and their officers and employees have both a collective and an individual commercial interest in the maintenance of high standards of behaviour and of their professional reputation.

These objectives cannot be attained, however, through mere compliance with rules and regulations. Whether the prevailing regulatory environment is prescriptive or principles-based, the interpretation and observation of such rules and regulations, if it is to be meaningful, and if it is to ensure confidence at all levels, must itself be underpinned by behaviour that is rooted in trust, honesty and integrity.

The principles set out below are founded upon and reflect the essential business values which are necessary to meet these objectives and, at the same time, support the function of regulatory compliance.

The Principles

I. To act honestly and fairly at all times when dealing with clients, customers and counterparties and to be a good steward of their interests, taking into account the nature of the business relationship with each of them, the nature of the service to be provided to them and the individual mandates given by them.

2. To act with integrity in fulfilling the responsibilities of your appointment and seek to avoid any acts or omissions or business practices which damage the reputation of your organization or which are deceitful, oppressive or improper and to promote high standards of conduct throughout your organization.

3. To observe applicable law, regulations and professional conduct standards when carrying out financial service activities and to interpret and apply them according to principles rooted in trust, honesty and integrity.

4. When executing transactions or engaging in any form of market dealings, to observe the standards of market integrity, good practice and conduct required by or expected of participants in that market.

5. To manage fairly and effectively and to the best of your ability any relevant conflict of interest, including making any disclosure of its existence where disclosure is required by law or regulation or by your employing organization.

Observance of the five principles above is wholly compatible with comparable notions of good behaviour which may be expected or mandated by applicable law or financial or other regulations or by the membership requirements of any relevant professional association or by any other applicable code of good conduct.

These principles comprise the general standards of conduct that are expected of members of the Company in their business relations. Their observance carries a hallmark of trust and a commitment to fair and honest dealings with colleagues, clients, customers and counterparties and to good stewardship of customer interests, whether wholesale or retail. A material breach of the principles would be incompatible with continuing membership of the Company.
 

CHARITY & EDUCATION IN 2010

Charity and Education forms a critical component of our activities as a livery company, disbursing nearly £90,000 in 2010 and co-ordinating the time of many member volunteers. Operating for the past three years under the Chairmanship of Court Assistant Bill Whitehead, the Charity and Education work has been developed through working groups comprising volunteer members of the Company. Two of these. Universities and Awards were merged at the end of the year to form the Education and Awards Committee alongside the Schools Working Group and the Small Charitable Donations Group. Court Assistant Mark Sismey-Durrant took over the Chairmanship of the C&E Committee from Bill Whitehead in December. A revised C&E strategy is being prepared as the Company enters its second decade to build on the good work that has been done so far. This will seek to focus increasing Company resources on areas where it can have a real and lasting impact along the lines of its core objectives for Charity and Education.

The Company’s Small Charitable Donations are managed by Freeman Peter Stredder. These donations are normally of amounts up to £1000 to charities that fall outside the main educational activities of the Company but meet the core of objectives to: help disadvantaged young people; link to inner London; are connected to the financial services industry; or link to a charity supported by a Company member. Resources are focussed on specific projects rather than simply contributing to their general resources. In 2009-10 examples of this included funding extra places on weekend performing arts courses for young people from low income families and helping a charity that enables young people with low educational achievements to gain a BTEC qualification. Support was also provided for a charity that helps disadvantaged young people with their careers, for young people from low income families in a cadet unit of each of the armed forces and for a number of small donations in amounts of £100 or £250. The Committee would welcome suggestions from members for charities that meet its core objectives.

The Education and Awards Committee operates under the Chairmanship of Liveryman Gerald Ashley with support from Liveryman Jon Norton (Formerly Chairs of the Awards Committee and University Working Groups respectively). The good alumni links established with a number of universities and business schools in recent years and cemented through the granting of prizes, has now been enhanced with the re-launch of the Lombard Prize with sponsorship from Lombard. This prize is now open to all Company prize winners at business schools throughout the country and will set a high standard of academic achievement in a business related field. In addition to this, the Company continues to develop strong and active links with the Institute of Financial Services which naturally aligns with the Company objectives, particularly in the fields of financial literacy education for young people and the achievement of professional qualifications.

Liveryman Tony Rhodes has expertly chaired the Schools Working Group for the past 3 years, but now hands over to Liveryman Jean Stevenson. The SWG focuses on students in secondary education with an ethos of being “passionate about making a difference to as many students as possible”, particularly those in the lesser privileged boroughs surrounding the City. The SWG continues to run two competitions for these schools, the WCIB Business Challenge and the WCIB Essay Competition. The subject of the Essay Competition was a letter to the Chancellor and it was interesting to read the concerns of the competitors. The numbers of students participating in these competitions continues to grow. One teacher from Christ the King 6th Form College made the following comments which demonstrates its positive impact:

“I just wanted to say a huge thank you to all concerned at the WCIB. Your enthusiasm and generosity for supporting our students is brilliant and all students had such a great time doing the Business Challenge. It was a great experience and great to see what they learn in the classroom being brought to life so thank you for giving us the opportunity.”

The annual Prize giving event, kindly hosted again by Burdale Financial was a great success well attended by students, teachers, parents and members. It gave the Master, who presented prizes, the opportunity to demonstrate to the attendees that bankers do have a social conscience and are doing something practical about it.

We continue to support badged scholars at the City of London School, the City of London Girls School and Reeds School, ensuring that the bursaries are awarded to talented students who would not normally have been able to afford to attend these schools. The Lord George Past Masters Scholarship Fund was also launched in 2009 to provide an annual scholarship to a student attending Dulwich College. Whilst this is an important aspect of our work, as we are a relatively new Company we are only able to support a small number of students in this way. Members are particularly encouraged to contribute to the Lord George fund if they have not already done so and should please contact the Clerk to make their donation,

Thanks must also go to the Brokerage Citylink for their continued support for the Company and their enormous help in giving the Company educational links throughout the inner city.

The Charity and Education Committee also managed the Company’s traditional livery company relationships with TA unit 256 Field Hospital (D Squadron), CVHQ Royal Artillery in Woolwich, City of London Sea Cadets and 16F Squadron Air Training Corps in Hornsey. We are members of the Livery Schools Link and provide financial and mentoring support for visiting students on the Mansion House Scholarship Scheme.

This was a busy past year for the Charity and Education Committee, but we all look forward to refreshing the strategy and moving forward in 2010.

Mark Sismey-Durrant

Chairman