Ethical and responsible business

Resurs’s commitments on issues concerning accessibility, responsibility for the supply chain and customer communication, as well as cus­tomer privacy and anti-corruption are all gath­ered under the concept of Ethical and responsi­ble business.

Taking responsibility for the supply chain in a bank is largely a matter of ensuring suppliers’ quality of supply and continuity, cost efficiency, risk control, regulatory compliance and information security. It is important to define the proper functional and non-functional requirements and terms, as well as starting a dialogue with suitable po­tential vendors, already at the procurement stage. The final contract must fulfil Resurs’s requirements and safeguard its shareholders’ interests while at the same time the terms must be decent for the suppliers and their employees as well as protecting customers’ privacy.

At the other end of the system, there are customers who must under­stand the agreement they are entering into with Resurs and the commit­ments this entails. Products and services must be easy to understand and communication must not tempt people to take on excessive debt. Resurs always endeavours to achieve a balance between transparency and ac­cessibility, where the information is sufficiently extensive for customers to be aware of responsibilities and consequences, without necessarily being complicated and difficult to understand.

Regulations are continually evolving

Ongoing customer privacy work is governed by national legislation and EU regulations. Resurs carefully follows developments in order to ensure proper regulatory compliance. Resurs also continually trains its em­ployees, with the objective of ensuring that everyone has undergone basic training in processing personal data.

Risk and incident management

Resurs engages in proactive risk and incident management in order to ensure the proper level of protection of information and personal data throughout the operation. Resurs also employs comprehensive control systems that flag abnormal transactions and cash flows, along with inter­nal authorisation levels for managing information and performing ser­vices.

Zero tolerance for all forms of corruption

Corruption undermines democracy, warps competition, makes a level playing field for business more difficult and benefits organised crime. Corrup­tion results in serious legal and reputational risks. Resurs’s operation is exposed to corruption through fraud, money laundering and financing of terrorism as well as bribery. The risks in the four countries are similar in nature. For Resurs, proper conduct from a business ethics standpoint throughout the operation is also required to deserve continued trust.

Therefore Resurs has a long-term systematic prevention program to combat all forms of corruption. The bank has a special unit, Financial Crime Prevention, which is intended to strengthen AML and combat financial crime.

Code of conduct

The Group’s CEO and management bear overall responsibility for preven­tive efforts and for ensuring that resources, processes and control systems are in place. Resurs’s position is laid down in its Code of Conduct, which applies to all employees and Board members. All employees have access via the intranet to the Code of Conduct, which is available in Swedish, Finnish and English, and its associated policies and guidelines. Resurs has three levels of control functions, the three lines of defence, to manage the risk of money laundering and other corruption risks and ensure that the Group is doing business and entering into business relationships based on ethically proper grounds.

Anonymous channel for whistle-blowers

Employees and other people who are otherwise in a work-related situa­tion can report on serious irregularities via the whistle-blower function. Informants may choose to remain anonymous and can thus never be traced. After an initial assessment as to whether the case meets the criteria for a whis­tle-blower case or not, the case is investigated.