authbridge newsletter volume viii issue 1

7/30/2019 AuthBridge Newsletter Volume VIII Issue 1

1/7

In its eighth year of operations, AuthBridge proudly

re-launches its monthly corporate newsletter to share

its experiences in this evolved Screening Industry.

Much has changed in the environ; national laws, global

compliances, Client perspectives, market dynamics

making it imperative for the screening companies toevolve, innovate and be alacritous to match strides.

The inaugural April issue features Mr Krish Shankar

Executive Director, Human Resources, Bharti Airtel

in the ClientSpeak segment sharing his views on

Background Screening, its impact and evolution. Future

issues will feature views from our other clients and

experts.

Through our monthly newsletter we expect to share

with you the current happenings in the country and

around the globe which either impact screening and due

diligence norms or give a new perspective to how or what

needs to be veried, complied to, screened to keep our

organisations and our people safe within the constraints

we operate under.

We will also use this medium to keep you upto speed

on Best Practices in Screening and share with you

infographics on screening trends as they emerge with

our regular analysis of our data.

New products and services from AuthBridge will be

showcased here.

Your feedback will of course be extremely valuable

in helping us evolve the medium to be effective and

informative.

Monthly NewsletterVolume VIII Issue 1

Editorial

Content

1. News

2. Legal Update3. A Point to Ponder

4. ClientSpeak

5. Best Practices in Screening

6. Screening Trends

7. Case Studies

8. Products and Services


2/7

Stirrings within the Nation

Operation Red Spider, the sting operation conducted by an online portal Cobrapost purportedly shows a number

of senior executives of the three private sector banks verbally agreeing to take huge amounts of cash from an undercover

reporter and putting them into a variety of long-term investment plans so that the black money ultimately is converted

into white. The three private banks accused of indulging in money laundering both within and outside has revealed a

money laundering scam.Allegations do not mean outing norms. There is not a single transaction which has taken

place. KYC violations will happen in any system. These are all transactional issues and have nothing to do with money

laundering, said KC Chakrabarty Deputy Governor Reserve Bank of India [RBI] told reporters after a meeting with

bankers on March 21.

He further said, There is no scam (that) has happened...As no transaction has taken place.

Let us not unnecessarily downgrade ourselves. Our system to prevent money laundering is perfect, absolutely nothing(wrong with it), he said.

Bitti Mohanty, the absconding-from-parole son of Odisha ex-DGP is nally arrested as an employee of State Bank of

Travancore with a fake id and fake documents in Kerala and now taken back to Rajasthan for identication. The state

police have charged a case of impersonation, cheating and forgery against Bitti.

Bitti has been taken to the bank where he worked, the Chinmaya Institute of Technology here where he did his MBA

using forged certicates and the places he stayed here. Police said they would again le a plea in the court for further

custody as they planned to take him to Odisha for taking further evidence to conrm his identity. A police team has

been to Odisha and questioned former Odisha DGP B B Mohanty, who identied his son through the photographs

shown to him.

Another team which went to Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh had also collected evidences of forgery from the

documents they got from the at where Bitti was staying before he moved in to Kerala.

After eeing jail in Rajasthan, Bitti had spent a few months in Puttaparthi, where he was alleged to have forged

documents using which he enrolled as student in a private institution in Kannur and later obtained the bank job.

Global Ripples

Three Nortel executives orchestrated a widespread multimillion-dollar fraud created history by decimating a

nearly $300 billion worth Canadian company to it ling for bankruptcy in North America and Europe and selling

remaining businesses piecemeal to various buyers within 5 years.

Russell Foundation, an Indianapolis-based organization founded in 2003 by Michael Russell, was ostensibly a

religiously afliated non-prot intended to provide community leadership and poverty relief. Michael Russell, age 54,

pleaded guilty to 20 counts led against him and admitted to defrauding an Indianapolis investor out of $1.7 million

over the course of six months in 2007

News

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3/7

Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill has become law of the land with President Pranab Mukherjee givingassent to it. The Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to enlarge the denition of money

laundering offences and could help curb funding of terrorist operations, was approved by Parliament in the Winter

Session.

The Bill had sought to remove existing limit of Rs. 5 lakh as ne under the Act. It proposes to make provision for

attachment and conscation of the proceeds of crime even if there is no conviction so long as it is proved that offence of

money laundering has taken place, and property in question is involved in money-laundering.

New FCPA guidelines sift out gifts from bribes - The US has seen a surge in the number of high-prole investigations into

bribery and corruption in the last two years. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Acts (FCPA) enforcement actions registered

by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) includes 13 corporate cases and three individual cases in 2011.

For 2012, the gure stands at seven corporate cases and two individual cases. The upsurge in investigations has raised

concerns not just in the US but in India as well, given the close business relations between the two countries and the

extraterritorial nature of the FCPA.

AICTE declares ISB and IIPM with all its branches as unapproved institutions among 300+ others.

ISB said the management programme offered by the institution is one of the best courses in the country and it need not

have a stamp of approval from the council. In fact, the ISB is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schoolsof Business (AACSB) and is the rst business school in South Asia to be recognised by this premier global body. Since its

inception, the ISB has been offering one-year courses which now became a norm with other schools like IIMs.

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has issued a show cause notice to the Indian Institute of Planning

and Management (IIPM), asking it why the technical education regulator shouldnt initiate action against it.

Footnote: Following a complaint from an IIPM business partner alleging defamatory web material targeting the

institute, a Gwalior court last month ordered the blocking of 73 uniform resource locators (URLs).

A Point to Ponder

Legal Updates

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4/7

Krish Shankar

Executive Director,

Human Resources, Bharti Airtel

Leading the HR function in Bharti Airtel, a 10bn USD company since April 2007, Krish has successfully led various

organization development and transformation initiatives, making Airtel among the best companies for leaders.

Prior to Airtel, Krish, a Post Graduate Diploma in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations from XLRI,

Jamshedpur, worked with Unilever for over 20 years, lastly as Vice President, Human Resources- Asia- Africa Region.

Krish has over 25 years of professional experience in enterprise level roles, with a focus on change management,

performance management, people alignment and driving the HR transformation agenda to deliver strategic value for

the business.

A keen runner, Krishs other interests are reading, trekking & photography.

In an exclusive interview with AuthBridge, Krish Shankar shares his views on Background Screening

below:

Screening: an effective tool to further risk mitigation strategy

In a market environment like India where one in every 10 applicants is reported to be showing some kinds of incongruity

in his/her resume, a thorough background check increases the objective information available to a prospective employer.

Experience and trends prove that background screening acts as an effective tool to further risk mitigation strategy.

Ineffective employee background verication process might increase possibility of fraud, dilution of brand/reputation

and workplace violence.

Acceptability and implementation of the employee background screening process has risen exponentially

in last ve years

There has been an exponential rise in acceptability and implementation of the employee background screening process

in the last ve years as Industry encountered pitfalls of negligent hiring leading to drain of wealth.

As per the reports, every 8 out of 10 employers complete criminal background checks on applicant before hiring them.

A background check may uncover deception, can afrm an individuals professional or personal integrity by validating

information supplies and highlight any anomaly in criminal, employment and education history.

Overall quality of hires has improved with reduction in error rate

Considering its huge impact on the hiring process we have been over-cautious in designing and staging the background

verication process along with being highly careful and robust in monitoring it. This has resulted in our error rate

declining to 9% in FY 12-13 vis--vis 13% in FY 11-12 thereby improving the overall quality of hires.

Experts estimate that hiring a wrong person can cost an organization between one and ve times that persons annual

salary. In the last one year, because of robust pre-hiring checks, 10%-15% of error cases were terminated. Though there

is a cost involved in including an additional step in the hiring process, however it represents a fraction of the cost of

terminating an individual.

ClientSpeak

3

Continued...


5/7

Critical to screen facts which contribute to 80% discrepancy

The following 3 areas of background screening are not only critical before taking a hiring decision but also account for

almost 80% of incorrect data supplied:

Past Employment History discrepancies found relating to tenure of employment to title held to compensation.

Education Credentials issues relating to fake certicates, incorrect period & course are most common Criminal Record Check to avoid making a high risk decision which can have a long term impact

Education from institutions not recognized by Indian regulators but having Industry patronage is

advisable to be considered given current times

As we develop & enter into an era of larger private sector participation in Education Industry, we should see better

interface, partnering & integration between different regulators & other Government Bodies. This would standardize &

ease the whole recognition process and make it more relevant for current times.

Therefore, in its present state or form where we have larger population seeking education vis--vis available Government

Infrastructure supporting it, it is advisable to consider education from these institutions after validating the records.

Networking Sites are best used to validate pre-screening results till they mature to mitigate legal

wrangles

We work in a dynamic business environment & fastest growing economies of the world. Businesses are expanding &

availability of quality manpower is not in line with the growth. Hence the need of the hour is to come up with innovative

ways for screening & verifying candidates to ensure legitimacy & quality. Amid security concerns, corporate scandals and

workplace violence, pre-employment screening has been gaining ground. One of the recent trends is use of networking

sites like Facebook & LinkedIn to establish common connections & verify the details being submitted by candidates. In

its present form it is being best used as a channel to validate results of pre-screening report being run by partners till

it matures to a stage of mitigating the legal liabilities in case of unpleasant situations.

We can also see nancial credit history check playing a crucial role in times to come as data regarding this become

readily accessible with required credibility.

Economy of scale through trained staff, better utilization of paid data records and greater thoroughness

and accuracy through advanced analytics are derived through professional screening services.

Managing end to end background screening process internally may be a time consuming, costlier & operationally

challenging activity. Professional screening company derives economy of scale through trained staff, better utilization of

paid data records and greater thoroughness and accuracy through advanced analytics.

In addition, background checking is highly regulated and therefore it is all the more challenging for rms to ensure

regulatory compliance.

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6/7

NAPBS offers the following best practices intended

to benet employers and job seekers who are

planning for 2013:

1. Be Complete: Conduct a comprehensive background

search to avoid negligent hiring. Relying on partial

information or information that may be out of date can be

as risky as not conducting a thorough background check

at all.

2. Be Efcient: Time is a precious commodity especially

for recruiters. Look for ways to utilize technology to help

create efciencies. Talk with your background screeningprovider about ways to improve your process to save you

money and time.

3. Be Thorough: As an employer, you have certain

responsibilities under the law. Make sure that all

background screening practices meet federal and state

regulations as well as industry requirements. Be mindful

of the new Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

criminal guidelines and the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

4. Be Analytical: Consider job responsibilities when

screening candidates. Go beyond basic background

information and assess job relatedness and business

necessity.

5. Be Consistent: Develop a method for a targeted level of

screening for each open job position to align with business

needs and job relatedness.

Source: NAPBS

What should your Background

Screening Policy say?

Identify and categorise all risk parameters:

Employees

Clients

Customers

Vendors/Suppliers/Franchisee

Contractual Staff

Visitors

Identify Sensitive Roles [High Risk]among em-

ployees

Identify physical or virtual resources which need

to be protected

Identify at which stage of engagement the risk is

to be mitigated

Dene the scope for screening

Identify steps how info for screening will be

gathered.

Identify checks to be conducted

Dene Severity Matrix with clear policy guide-

lines for Action or Waiver

Dene procedure for Action

Dene procedure for Waiver

Dene Retention of records

Ensure Legal Compliance

Source: AuthBridge

Best Practices in Screening

5

Data from 2011-12 has been analysed

to show industry sectors with highest

discrepancy percentage in Employee

Screening Services. Next issue we will

compare the 2012-13 data for these

Industry Sectors to highlight any trend.

Screening Trends


7/7

AuthBridge Research Services Pvt. Ltd. http://www.authbridge.com

Plot No. 123, II Floor, Udyog Vihar, Phase IV Gurgaon 122 016 , Haryana, India

Designby

HuesTechnoloies

AuthLeadTM

An advanced background verication product designed exclusively for screening the senior-most of an organisation;this intense screening solution goes beyond the regular structured verication process to delve deep into individualsprofessional associations at peer, subordinate and senior levels. Individuals credentials are checked in all relevantdatabases, national & where applicable international. Driven by some basic client guidelines, AuthLead reports are acompilation of detailed research & interviews of references.

As a highly customizable product, our consultants work closely with the client to understand the requirements andpresent a detailed dossier which allows the company to take an informed decision ensuring the individual is professionallycapable for the dened role and is compliant to national and global regulatory and industry standards. Flags, if any, arereported.

IndiaVerifyTM

A retail product from AuthBridge, IndiaVerify addresses the verication requirements of individual customers fordomestic helpers, drivers, tenants and marriage partner. This online verication service allows AuthBridge theopportunity to serve the individual customer for securing their personal and domestic environs. Rise in the level ofmarital frauds and crimes committed by domestic helps, drivers and tenants, has heightened the need of a verication

service of this nature. IndiaVerify eases the process of initiating verication for the individual.

Product and Services

Fake ID allows 6 years reprieve

Six years after jumping parole, Bittihotra Mohanty, was nally arrested by Kerala police in Kannur. With a fakeidentity as Raghav Rajan, he got a job of Probationary Ofcer with State Bank of Travancore.

Many questions arise from this one instance.

Did the institute from where he completed his MBA check the validity of the documents he submitted foradmission?

Do MBA Institutes and other technical institutes have a screening process? At what stage of his hiring-on-boarding process did the bank initiate the background check for Bitti? What documents were asked for the screening?

A standard background check on his education and police verication at his permanent address by the institutes and theemployers during his 6 years would have revealed his fake education and his criminal past. The education document fromKalinga Institute of Industrial Technology being veried as fake would have stalled his future run and SBT & Chinmaya

Institute of Technology at Chala would have saved themselves this unwarranted publicity and embarrassment.

Yahoo Blooper

Scott Thompson stepped down from the post of Yahoo Inc.s CEO after a misrepresentation was found in his academiccredentials. Thompsons resume mentioned a bachelors degree in computer science from Stonehill College which is,reportedly, false. This fake detail was reported to be present in Thompsons bio-data even when he was a part of eBay,his previous employer.

Would you risk your organisations credibility by hiring a leader who has proverbial skeletons?Would a detailed screening conducted on a leaders past and current professional associations reveal othermisrepresentations ?

Case Studies

authbridge newsletter volume viii issue 1

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