Auditing

Caja Madrid has an internal audit unit that provides independent and objective evaluation and consulting capabilities, as a means of adding value, efficiency and efficacy to our operating and management processes and internal control systems. The Audit Committee is responsible for seeing that the unit performs its work correctly and effectively, pursuant to the ethical commitment enshrined in the corporate governance system.

Marking the differenceRaúl Tamarit MartínezBranch 9640

The Unit’s professionals carry out their tasks in accordance with the Code of Ethics, the Rules for the Professional Conduct of Internal Audits and other guidelines issued by the Instituto de Auditores Internos. The Audit Unit was awarded the highest score in the quality assurance programme (EC) run by this Institute in 2008, assessing its compliance with International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing and its effectiveness in fulfilling the mission defined for it in the Bylaws and the expectations set by the Audit Committee and Office of the Chairman of the Caja Madrid Group.

The scope of the annual audit plan extends to the entire branch and office network, business and area directorates, commercial and business banking products, processes and organisational groups, Cibeles Corporación and central services. It also covers information systems and environments, the security of applications and, finally, the measures in place for the protection of personal data.

The Internal Audit Unit acts to defer fraud and, to this end, evaluates the appropriateness and effectiveness of the internal control system using a methodology based on the potential risk of the organisation's diverse activities and transactions. It has authority to take all such actions as it deems necessary to obtain valid and sufficient evidence in cases of suspected or potential fraud, so management has clear, accurate information for input to its decisions. External audits also contribute to this control system through the circularisation of customer account balances.

The Audit Unit also strengthened application of environmental criteria by checking that all financing to projects with environmental impact is preceded by an assessment of the environmental risk. In 2008, 59 specialised finance operations were analysed. The frequency with which these reviews are conducted is based on the evaluation of the inherent business risk.