Banco de la República (the Central Bank of Colombia) reports on the investigations to the supplier SICPA S. A.

SICPA S.A. is a Swiss multinational and one of the world's leading manufacturers of security inks, which have been used in the printing of banknotes of most currencies, including the dollar and the euro. It has been a supplier of Banco de la República for more than 50 years.

In recent days, Banco de la República was informed by SICPA of a sanction imposed by the Swiss authorities (Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland, OAG), as a consequence of organizational deficiencies between 2008 and 2015. According to the OAG, these deficiencies were related to necessary and reasonable measures to prevent breaches of Swiss law by SICPA employees in some countries.

In 2020, when Banco de la República became aware of the initiation of the investigations derived from these facts, it immediately activated its compliance and due diligence protocols. It has also delivered the information requested by the Office of the Attorney General of Colombia and, through it, the Bank sent the information requested by the Swiss authorities. SICPA is being asked for complementary and detailed information on the sentence imposed on it, its compliance standards, and the mitigating measures adopted.

In addition, the legal consequences of the sentence imposed on SICPA are being analyzed and the corresponding measures will be adopted, if applicable, within the framework of the Bank's zero tolerance policy for corruption, as established in the Bank's Code of Conduct.