Weekly Blog by Philiip King, CEO of the ICM - 'Promoting the credit profession across government'

I spent most of yesterday in a room at HM Treasury for a workshop with representatives from a number of government departments. We were discussing and exploring debt management across government, and I was the non-governmental participant invited to bring a perspective from the private sector and the wider credit profession. It was an interesting and fascinating day where a wide range of issues and views were expressed.

It would naturally be wrong to detail our discussions but suffice to say I was pleased to be able to share my thinking – as so often expressed in these blogs – about the importance of professionalism in credit management, the importance of providing a career pathway to that professionalism, and the importance of recognising that professionalism when it is achieved and delivered.

We explored the core values, behaviours, and skills required in a credit professional and there were no surprises in the discussion output. The effective credit professional has attributes and characteristics that are common regardless of the sector or industry in which he or she works and, of course, the ICM plays its part in bringing these attributes to the fore. Whether it is through our learning and development short-courses and qualifications, our Continuing Professional Development scheme, or our networking activity made up of branch, regional and national events and online forums, the ultimate objective is the same: to promote and enhance professionalism in our credit community.

Many of our members work in the public sector and add real value to their organisations; it was good to explore how that value might be further enhanced.

Finally, the LIBOR scandal that has overwhelmed us in recent days makes me wonder if any of the participants were members of professional bodies and subject to ethical codes. If so, I hope those professional bodies will be opening files within their complaints and disciplinary regimes. Very occasionally we have to deal with complaints and take action against an ICM member under our Ethical Code and it is right that we do so. Integrity is a fundamental part of the professionalism we all promote and want to see.

To find out more about the Institute of Credit Management visit http://www.icm.org.uk/ or follow http://www.twitter.com/icmorg or http://www.twitter.com/philipkingicm