Deloitte, a leading professional services firm, recently launched the Deloitte Middle East Center for Corporate Governance in Dubai to address the growing regulations surrounding corporate governance.

The center will support organisations in managing regulations that require them to adopt corporate governance processes.

The launch event also coincided with the launch of the first Deloitte Anti-Corruption Academy in the Middle East where Nina Gross, director, Deloitte Financial Services, provided insights around anti-corruption practices globally, and recent trends impacting the region.

Deloitte developed the Anti-Corruption Academy to promote unfettered dialogue about challenges faced by multi-national corporations operating in markets at risk for corrupt business behavior. The Academy seeks to provide a forum for collective action in addressing both the “supply” and “demand” side of corruption and money laundering.

Fadi Sidani, Enterprise Risk Services leader at Deloitte Middle East, said: “The Deloitte Middle East Center for Corporate Governance offers resources for executives, directors, and other stakeholders who are active in governance, to help assess an organization’s governance processes, including benchmarking them against best practices, and ensuring they meet the needs of the business.”

“Proper governance frameworks strengthen accountability mechanisms and open channels of communication within and across the various market players,” said Rami Wadie, partner and corporate governance leader at Deloitte Middle East. “As such, it is essential for companies and organizations in the region to have a proper understanding of sound governance practices and frameworks.”

“The benefits of effective governance for any organization are obvious: from protecting the organization’s reputation, to enhancing market value, creating effective risk management processes and increasing awareness of all the developments in the firm,” concluded Wadie.

Dan Konigsburg, managing director, Corporate Governance & Public Policy, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, visited the region on the occasion of the launch of the Deloitte Middle East Center for Corporate Governance, and presented on recent global corporate governance trends.

The event included a specialist panel of experts who considered the imperatives for ethical business and the development of the anticorruption movement to the region.

The panel was moderated by Humphry Hatton, CEO of Deloitte Corporate Finance in the Middle East, who said: “It is critically important for Boards to understand what is being done to ensure that companies do not engage in corrupt activity. The very lively and interactive panel discussion we held shows the widespread interest in this area and acknowledgment of its importance, as well as the competitive advantage to be obtained from being an ethical business.” – TradeArabia News Service