Our businesses find different ways of embedding our standards into their day-to-day activity.

Many businesses start with the Aviva values of integrity, performance, progressiveness and teamwork. For example, in Aviva Australia, all employees take part in a values programme, to help them relate the Aviva values to their own team’s work.

In India, Aviva Global Services’ offshore partners go to great lengths to build in high standards of business conduct. Their operating manuals include ethics, integrity and business conduct. Quality checks are built into each process, with a particular emphasis on data security. Compliance issues are a feature of team meetings and they regularly audit operations to help them identify and then reduce any risks.

In Aviva Asia the standards of business conduct are included in the staff handbook and other staff communications – and, to check that they are being applied, all Aviva Asia businesses must audit their processes and report results to the audit committee or board. To help embed the standards in China, the group financial crime team led a business conduct workshop and reviewed measures on financial crime and anti-money laundering.

In Europe’s emerging markets, ethical behaviour and corporate values are integral to all our activities. To reduce the risk of malpractice in the Czech Republic, Aviva has tight controls to monitor any breaches of ethical standards, and agents must follow our ethical code of practice or, depending on the seriousness of any breach, either face fines or lose their contracts. In Romania, Aviva knows that its reputation is one of its most precious assets, so staff meetings in 2006 were used to explain and promote the values in some way, including through games.

When rebranding Aviva, an advertising campaign was launched using images of rugby players. As a typical British sport, these images picked up on the company’s heritage and also represented fair-play, integrity, teamwork, progressiveness and performance. A newsletter from the CEO was also sent to employees of our bank partners to explain the meaning of Aviva’s rebranding in Italy and the relationship between the Aviva values and our brand.

In the UK, all new starters at Morley, our fund management company, learn about the company’s values in their induction course and are given welcome packs that include a section on business standards, with examples of how Morley adheres to ethical practices in its day-to-day business. The standards of business conduct policy is also embedded in management courses.

At Norwich Union, all new employees complete mandatory computer-based training and existing staff complete this on a bi-annual basis. Modules covered include anti-money laundering, data protection and information security. In addition, managers are required to complete modules on disability discrimination, equal opportunities and diversity and age. The business also follows all necessary training procedures to help ensure that Norwich Union complies with the UK regulator’s “Treating Customers Fairly” requirements.