Integrity
Every organisation is confronted with integrity risks, and that includes the AFM. As the conduct supervisor for the financial markets, the AFM has an important exemplary role where acting with integrity is concerned.
Integrity policy
An unimpeachable reputation is essential for us as an organisation. We depend on the confidence of consumers and enterprises subject to our supervision: without this confidence, we have no right to exist. In making choices and dealing with dilemmas, we are guided by our core values – ‘diligent and thorough’, ‘autonomous and connective’. These values help us to be the professional, expert, discreet and ethical supervisor that we aim to be.
To ensure its own integrity, the AFM has a compliance function anchored in both its articles of association and in a charter. This falls directly under the chair of the Executive Board and has a direct line to the chair of the Supervisory Board.
The activities of the compliance function involve risk analysis, awareness/training, monitoring and internal enforcement. The Compliance Officer reports annually in the AFM’s annual report.
There are also a number of confidential advisers within the AFM.
Code of conduct and regulations
The AFM has a code of conduct (download PDF) that includes all compliance-related regulations. It is not enough to say that we act in a professional, expert, discreet and ethical manner. We must be this in reality. We must reflect this in our actions. Our image and reputation are largely determined by the way in which we express ourselves, behave and exercise our duties, in whatever function or role, also in our personal lives. To put it briefly: we say what we do and we do what we say. Our right to exist depends on our credibility and integrity.
The code of conduct applies to everyone working in any way for the AFM, either permanently or on a temporary basis.
The regulations that form part of the code of conduct are:
- the Regulation on preventing (the appearance of) conflicts of interest with respect to incompatible activities, private investments, benefits and cooling off
- the Regulation on private investment
- the Regulation on reliability screening
- the Regulation on reporting (suspected) abuses and violations of integrity
- the Regulation on integrity screening and sanctions
- the Regulation on inappropriate conduct complaints.