| Type | Private limited company |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1833. UK statutory public corporation, 1980-1997 21 March 1997 (Ltd.) |
| Headquarters | Sutton, England, UK |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Key people | Paul Batchelor (Chairman) Terence Jagger (from 7 Mar 2011) (CEO) |
| Website | www.crownagents.com |
The Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administrations Ltd is a Greater London, UK based company. Prior to 1979, the Crown Agents was an autonomous body working for the British and other governments, and for multilateral development and funding institutions. Between 1979 and 1997, Crown Agents was a UK public statutory corporation, overseen by the British Ministry of Overseas Development.[1]
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Crown Agents is an international development company providing direct assistance, consultancy and training for public-sector modernisation, particularly in financial management, banking and supply chain management. Crown Agents works with clients in more than 100 countries, major multilateral agencies, such as the World Bank[2], European Commission, United Nations agencies and bilateral donors such as DFID, KfW, SIDA, CIDA and the Danish, Japanese and U.S. governments. It has provided governmental services as large as the Customs system of Angola [3]and the Value added tax (VAT) system of Lesotho.[4] It works on sustainable development promoting more effective trade and transit corridors[5]
Projects include improving the livelihood of poor and vulnerable people in South East Asia (SEACAP) and addressing the challenges of providing reliable access for poor communities in Africa (AFCAP) Crown Agents is becoming increasingly active in the environmental change arena[6] and is using emerging technologies to contribute to aid effectiveness and value for money in various projects.[7]
Crown Agents is owned by "The Crown Agents Foundation", a company limited by guarantee, whose objectives include the alleviation of worldwide poverty. Crown Agents allocates sums from its income to the Foundation's social and developmental objectives and applies these at the Foundation's direction.
Members of the foundation are organisations with a keen interest in international development and include firms, non-governmental organisations and international bodies.
These include: British Expertise,The Aga Khan Foundation, The Chartered Institute of Building, The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, Christian Aid, International Business Leaders Forum, International Chamber of Commerce, The Royal Commonwealth Society, and the Japan International Cooperation Agency. The British Department for International Development is represented among the Foundation's members.
Crown Agents and its subsidiaries work across a large range of industries, providing Public Financial Management, Humanitarian and Crisis Response, Engineering, Procurement & Logistics, IT consulting and training, and International Recruitment and training. Subsidiaries include the Crown Agents Bank and Crown Agents Investment Management.
Crown Agents originated as a body conducting financial transactions for British colonies. Agents were first appointed in 1749 to transfer and account for grants made to colonies from the British Treasury.[8] These representatives were known as 'crown agents' from at least 1758, and were accountable to colonial governments, though selected on the recommendation of the British government.[9] A single body was created in 1833, when the crown agents' business was consolidated under two Joint Agents General for Crown Colonies with an Office of several staff.[10] In 1861, the Office was renamed Crown Agents for the Colonies.[11] Crown Agents' responsibilities on behalf of colonial governments included accounting for Treasury grants, purchasing supplies, recruiting certain staff and raising capital on the markets. Crown Agents also oversaw specific colonial projects, such as certain postage stamp issues and some infrastructure construction.[12]
As decolonisation accelerated, the Office was renamed Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administrations in 1954, and the rules were changed to allow it to take on projects for independent states.[13] Crown Agents expanded its activities to include more international development projects and investment management. It was brought to the brink of bankruptcy in 1974 by the secondary banking crisis, and had to be bailed out by the British government.[14] Its anomalous status as an autonomous body with close links to government came into question, and in 1979 Crown Agents was brought under government control as a statutory corporation.
From 1987, shifting attitudes to state ownership of business and changes in British international development strategy led the government to support full privatisation of Crown Agents. It became a private company in 1997, ending its formal ties to the British government.[15]
Crown Agents describes itself as an invaluable aid to international development, having been a counter to corruption and inefficiency when in government, and now "it is promoting transparency and probity across the entire globe.[16].