Customer service policy
In recent years, we have been strengthening our governance and compliance processes as part of our commitment to innovate and be the best in our industry.
We are pleased to announce the introduction of a new Customer Service Policy. This policy reflects our continuous evolution and commitment to improvement. We fully recognize the importance of providing high quality service to our clients, and the new changes emphasize our values and guidelines. The new Customer Service Policy includes a number of improvements that we have implemented to ensure a more efficient and satisfactory customer experience.
We emphasize communication, responsibility and professionalism in all aspects of our work. These changes do not alter our core values, which have always been at the heart of our company. Rather, they strengthen and reaffirm our commitment to these values. We are committed to continuous development and growth, and the new Customer Service Policy is one of the tools that will help us achieve this goal.
We are confident that the new Customer Service Policy will enable us to better meet the needs and expectations of our customers. We are proud of our achievements and will continue to strive to achieve even greater results in the future.
About our client and the selection process
We have long had a policy that defines what work we will and will not do. In 2020, we further strengthened this policy by launching a more rigorous framework and set of criteria for evaluating our client service.
Our Client Service Policy requires partners to systematically evaluate client projects across five interrelated dimensions: country, institution, theme, individual, and operational aspects. This framework, called CIIIP, which stands for Client Orientation, Innovation, Individualization, Integration, and Advantage, is embedded in the way we assess risks for all our client work. Among other criteria, the policy requires us to consider the unintended consequences of any proposed work, including potential negative impacts on vulnerable groups. If a client or proposed project does not meet our standards, we will not do the work. This policy applies globally, across all sectors, whether or not the work is paid for.
Our client service policy contains additional clear rules for work we will not do. For example, we do not serve tobacco companies, opioid manufacturers, dual-use technology companies in some countries, or pharmaceutical companies on projects that deviate from industry pricing norms or seek to circumvent regulatory structures or legal conventions. In the public sector, we do not serve defense, intelligence, judicial or police institutions in non-democratic countries (for which we base our assessment on The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index), with some exceptions for international aid and humanitarian work approved by our firm’s risk management. We also do not serve political parties, political advocacy groups, legislative bodies or individual legislators’ offices; nor do we engage in political advocacy or lobbying on behalf of our clients.
We also follow additional policies and guidelines for specific areas of client work; for example, an extensive set of rules governs our work with public sector clients.
Specialized oversight and decision support
To oversee our Client Service Policy and ensure that our firm continues to adapt in an increasingly complex world, we continually improve our risk and governance processes and capabilities, including our risk management, legal and compliance functions. Customer service issues that require consideration that go beyond our standard processes are referred to a global decision-making body, the Customer Service Risk Committee (CSRC).
The CSRC is a committee supported by risk, legal and communications professionals that provides advice and solutions to the most complex risks we face in serving clients. About our client and the selection process.
Conflict prevention and management
Our policy prohibits an employee who has received confidential customer information from serving a competitor on a competitively sensitive assignment. This restriction applies as long as the information has significant competitive value. In our work with the public sector, we follow additional protocols for conflict resolution. In addition to managing any potential personnel conflicts, we comply with our government clients’ conflict of interest requirements and address potential conflicts – both actual and potential – accordingly.
Protecting and preventing the misuse of customer information
We strictly protect the information entrusted to us. At all levels of employment, colleagues are trained and obliged to comply with confidentiality obligations. We also comply with relevant data protection and processing restrictions. Colleagues must comply with the Personal Investment Policy, which, among other requirements, prohibits colleagues and their family members from buying or selling publicly traded securities of any firm client and requires them to pre-clear purchases and sales of any publicly traded securities.
About our professional standards
For more information on these professional standards, including our approach to protecting confidential client information, please read our Code of Professional Conduct.
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