KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 — Building greater trust and transparency will be the main focus in raising professional and ethical standards of bankers to prepare them to combat financial crime.

Asian Institute of Chartered Bankers (AICB) chairman Tan Sri Azman Hashim said it is vital for the bankers to have a code of ethics that promotes honesty, accountability and ethical conduct to maintain the highest levels of integrity in their professional practice.

"We can invest in the best anti-crime financial tools technologies and have the best policies in place, but if we do not have the people and capacity to implement them this effort will be useless.

"With this, we will be able to cultivate a culture of professionalism which will further contribute to raising the reputation of the banking industry and ultimately strengthen public trust,” he said in his welcoming remarks during the two-day International Conference of Financial Crime and Terrorism Financing (IFCTF 2019) today.

Organised by AICB, the conference which began today covered topics and case studies related to fraud, combating corruption and bribery, conduct risk, proliferation financing and cybersecurity.

Themed, "Building Trust and Transparency: Collaborate, Accelerate, Strengthen”, the event attracted the participation of 1,300 delegates from the public and private sector, including regulators and financial practitioners.

They will be enlightened on the latest regulatory updates, new tools and technologies to take on financial crime and implement more effective and efficient preventive controls.

Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is scheduled to deliver a special address this evening and launch a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) initiative to combat financial crime. — Bernama