Employee Background Screening FAQs – PART III: Conflict of Interest Checks & FACIS Searches

This three-part series of articles looks at employee background screening FAQs.

How do you know the candidate you just offered a role to is the ideal candidate? Are you 100% sure that everything they’re telling you is the truth? Or are you 90% certain? They showed you a diploma: How do you know it’s not photoshopped? Did you follow the correct procedures during your background checks process?

Simply investing in sufficient screening systems can save you time, money and heartbreak, as the employee background screening FAQs ebook will show you.

Part One of the series, “What, Why and Who?” provides an introduction to employee background checks and the necessary screenings that are vital to avoid horror stories and taboo tales that occur within your business. Part Two, “Pre-Employment Checks,” are essentially an investigation into a person’s character – inside and outside their professional lives. Part Three, “Conflict of interest check & FACIS Searches,” checks for any conflict of interests and sanctions, exclusions, debarments and disciplinary actions. To receive the next series subscribe to our monthly newsletter subscribe now!

Taken as a whole, this employee background screening FAQs ebook developed by the CRI® Group is the perfect primer for HR professionals and companies wanting guidance on background screening, pre-employment screening and post-employment background checks.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL SERIES HERE

WE’VE COMPILED A LIST OF OUR MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS IN THIS EMPLOYEE BACKGROUND SCREENING FAQs. IF YOU CANNOT FIND WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR BELOW, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO GET IN TOUCH WITH THE TEAM!

At CRI® Group, we specialise in employment screening, working as trusted partners to HR and recruiting managers of corporations and institutions worldwide. Our people work with energy, insight and care to ensure we provide a positive experience to everyone involved – clients, reference providers and candidates.

LET’S TALK

Is it Possible to Identify Conflict of Interest During Checks?

Conflict of interest occurs when an individual or company have interests that might influence or be perceived as being capable of influencing their judgment even unconsciously. What your client wants you to do is to check whether the subject has any additional business or interests that are in conflict with what they were retained to do.

Example:
You head the public relations department of the UAE’s largest bank. The department is responsible for putting together a quality service recognition programme. Your bank’s public relations agency is designing the advertising speciality components for the programme targeting the bank’s 10,000 employees. Your wife owns XYZ Promotions, the largest advertising speciality firm in the state.

The company offers the best prices for large orders. XYZ Promotions has supplied products for a number of other accounts of the public relations firm. However, this is the first time that the public relations firm has used XYZ Promotions for a bank project. The public relations firm does not know that your wife owns XYZ Promotions. You have not suggested the use of XYZ Promotions.

The public relations firm has made its recommendations to you, including using XYZ Promotions as the vendor for the quality service recognition programme. The bottom line is that if somebody is contracted to do a job — so they do not have any connections from which they could benefit again (like above — you are working for the bank, and it is your job to select an advertising company and if you select XYZ you benefit again!) Essentially this is a conflict of interest because you would benefit from this if XYZ was given the job.

Would you like to learn more about our internal investigation and conflict of interest services? Get in touch and let us know how we can help!

What Will a Financial Regulatory Check Show?

These checks entail a search of individuals who have been disqualified from holding prudentially significant roles primarily within the Banking, Finance, Securities and Investment sector (BFSI), e.g. Individuals who have been disqualified from involvement in the management of a corporation, banned from being securities or futures representatives, banned or disqualified from practising in the financial services industry and individuals who have had Enforceable Undertakings accepted.

A Financial Regulatory Check may also cover whether a person or organisation holds a license where this license is a requirement of their role within the BFSI environment, e.g. Auditors, Liquidators, Authorised Representatives, Financial Planners etc. Availability and access to these checks vary per country.

Would you like to learn more about our Financial Investigations services? Get in touch and let us know how we can help! Or visit us here!

What is a Bankruptcy Check?

Confirms if an individual (including aliases and associated parties) has been declared bankrupt and recorded with the relevant body. This information is relevant to individuals holding positions of management responsibility and certain financial roles.

What about Directorships & Significant Shareholdings Search?

This search identifies potential conflicts of interest that can arise from an individual’s current and past directorships and their significant shareholdings. An individual’s performance as a Director can provide critical insight into their skills and experience. This search can highlight whether any of the companies they have been a director of have had an administrator appointed or deregistered.

What Type of Educational Qualifications can You Check?

Specific educational qualifications are required for many positions of responsibility, and salary packages are set accordingly. Failing to verify this information can result in unqualified people in positions in which they cannot perform their responsibilities.

CRI Group™ verifies the institution attended, the date of attendance, the qualification awarded and the graduation dates. CRI Group™ also verifies that the institution is an accredited provider from approved government databases. Suppose the institution does not appear on an accredited database. In that case, CRI Group™ will also check the institution’s name against a comprehensive list of unaccredited institutions to ensure that the institution is not a known degree mill.

What about Professional Qualifications & Membership Checks?

Specific professional qualifications and memberships are key requirements for many roles. CRI Group’s researchers will verify the type of professional qualification and/or membership received, the status of the membership (i.e. Valid or lapsed), attendance dates and graduation dates where applicable.

National Police Check?

CRI Group’s Police Record Check will reveal details of criminal records in line with the relevant legislation.

Can I Have Access to a Criminal Watch List?

Where CRI Group™ cannot conduct a recognised police record check due to either legal restrictions or simply the lack of such a database, we can offer the “next best alternative.” These searches review proprietary databases and criminal watch lists issued by various governments to identify known individuals. We combine this check with an extensive media search which provides a high degree of confidence that the individual has not been involved in high-level criminal activity.

Anti Money Laundering Check?

This check assists in identifying the risks associated with individuals due to specific or general involvement with Money Laundering (AML), Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), terrorists and wanted criminals. It achieves this by detailing the relationship network between these individuals and various other entities.

The check provides an international due diligence report utilising up-to-the-day investigative information from an extensive range of available public domain information sources. It uses government, intelligence and police sites, global organisations, international and national media and all international sanctions lists. Would you like to learn more? Get in touch and let us know how we can help!

Credit & Civil Litigation Check

Access, availability, and information released vary across nations. In general:

• Civil litigation: Checks and researches public and private legal disputes on civil matters or through the courts. In other words, civil litigation refers to that branch of law dealing with disputes between individuals and/or organisations, in which compensation may be awarded to the victim. For instance, if a car crash victim claims damages against the driver for loss or injury sustained in an accident, this will be a civil litigation case.
• Credit check: Researches credit bureau for adverse financial judgments for debts and negative credit ratings where available, while a local agent will undertake alternative resources as per jurisdiction to ascertain the financial creditworthiness of the subject in question, which will include media checks, reputational and source comments from Central Bank resources where available.

Can you Conduct FACIS (Fraud & Abuse Control Information System) Searches?

Yes, we can; we conduct three levels of searches:

• FACIS Level 1 — A current and historical database of sanctions, exclusions, debarments and disciplinary actions for all provider types: federal sanctions
• FACIS Level 2 — A current and historical database of sanctions, exclusions, debarments and disciplinary actions for all provider types: federal and state healthcare entitlement programme sanctions
• FACIS Level 3 — A current and historical database of sanctions, exclusions, debarments and disciplinary actions for all provider types: federal and state sanctions

I AM LOOKING FOR UK SCREENING!

The UK Screening Module covers:

• Identity Check: An independent check to authenticate an individual’s identity using various sources of stated data.
• Regulated Employment History & References: Regulated employment references to confirm previous employment details.
• Academic Qualifications: Confirmation of highest academic qualification, including details of institution and dates attended.
• Professional Qualifications: Confirmation of latest or most relevant Professional or Trade Memberships.
• FSA Register Search against the UK Financial Services Authority Individual Register and Prohibited Persons Register
• UK Credit Check Check to determine the general credit worthiness of the candidate.
• Directorship Search: Search for UK Directorships and any disqualifications.
• Negative Media Search: Search of press and other media focusing on derogatory information only.
• Compliance Database Check: Search for inclusion in governmental sanctions, enforcements, watchlists, blacklists and criminality.
• Criminal Record Checks — Standard Disclosure: A check of all convictions held on the PNC.

More details on the UK Screening Module can be had here.

A business must understand its exposure when hiring and type of insurance coverage and limits – does your policy cover a negligent hiring lawsuit? The checks are critical to any company’s success – hiring qualified, honest, and hard-working employees is an integral part of thriving in the business community.

DOWNLOAD THE EMPLOYEE BACKGROUND SCREENING FAQs HERE