DSI Foundation published its annual report for 2020 today. The annual report is available in digital format at www.dsi.nl/jaarverslag-2020.
DSI strives to realise an incident-free investment sector and financial market where consumers have confidence in financial professionals, based on their expertise and integrity. We contribute to that goal by offering employee screening, certification and ethics enforcement services. In 2020, DSI supported more than 12,750 professionals.
DSI believes that integrity and professional expertise are inseparably linked. A professional who is an expert in their field may still present a tangible risk to consumers, employers and the entire financial sector if they do not act in a fair and honest manner. Only by paying constant attention to both can we make and keep the financial sector reliable.
In this annual report, we feature several DSI stakeholders’ opinions on the importance of integrity and professional expertise for a healthy future of the finance profession.
“I’m convinced that almost everyone has a good moral compass”, states DSI Board President Tanja Nagel in her interview. “It’s important and in the client’s interest for professionals to continue exercising their minds and creativity, and not just to tick off the boxes.” It is DSI’s duty to facilitate that.
Lukas Daalder, Managing Director of BlackRock and popular columnist in Het Financieele Dagblad, underscores the importance of integrity and posits that open discussion of dilemmas is the foundation of fair and honest behaviour. “An honest recommendation is based on as many perspectives as possible.”
Clemens Spoorenberg, Chairperson of the DSI Accreditation Committee, offers his vision of the importance and success of the Life-Long Learning programme that was created in 2020. “In the Life-Long Learning programme, Certified Professionals and candidates show that they are up-to-date regarding the knowledge in their field on an annual basis.”
Rob Wesselius, Business Manager Financial Markets at ING Wholesale Banking, has received positive internal feedback about the Life-Long Learning programme. “Our employees receive articles and questions. The model is practical and refreshing, in part because it deals with slightly different subjects than our employees would face within ING or their own specialist field.”
In his work as an Ethics Enforcement attorney at DSI, Mark van der Lecq draws connections between corporate culture, fair and honest behaviour and DSI Ethics Enforcement. “Ethics cases shouldn’t just deal with the foot soldiers, but also the generals. They’re so important for the culture, and they determine how the organisation breathes when it comes to integrity.”
The final interview with the DSI management team discusses DSI’s results in 2020, which was a dynamic year in many respects.
Read the complete annual report with all interviews and background information at www.dsi.nl/jaarverslag-2020