Enery Quinones has been appointed chief compliance officer at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), responsible for promoting awareness, standards and best practice related to integrity and ethical behaviour and advising on transaction-related issues.

Quinones will also administer the new Independent Recourse Mechanism, which is the channel for the public to raise concerns about EBRD-financed projects or practices.

She joins the EBRD from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), where she was head of the anti-corruption division and led the drafting and implementation of a mechanism to monitor an international treaty on corruption.

Earlier, Quinones coordinated the negotiation of the OECD’s Multilateral Agreement on Investment and worked on the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, which includes standards for fighting bribery and corruption. After joining the OECD in 1977, Quinones served as legal adviser in various areas related to business relations and energy matters.

The IRM gives local groups that may be directly and adversely affected by bank activities a means of addressing grievances to the bank – and which will evaluate whether the bank has acted in line with its own policies. It includes a problem-solving function to encourage or restore dialogue between parties in an effort to resolve the underlying issues giving rise to a complaint.

Although the IRM is new, it reflects the bank’s tradition of receiving comment from groups affected by its projects. It increases accountability and enhances transparency and responsiveness in the bank, a public institution owned by 60 governments and two intergovernmental institutions.

The bank’s new chief compliance officer, Quinones, coordinates all IRM processes and, together with an independent expert, makes an initial assessment of complaints. If a compliance review is warranted, an independent expert will conduct it. If a problem-solving initiative is warranted, the compliance officer or an independent facilitator will facilitate the process.

The independence of the mechanism is enhanced by several features: the chief compliance officer is not involved in bank investment decision-making and reports directly to the president; the IRM experts are external, independent specialists appointed by the board of directors following a competitive selection process and are not otherwise connected to the bank; and subject to confidentiality requirements, all compliance review reports will be made available directly to the affected group and the board of directors at the time it is submitted by the IRM expert for consideration.