Mark Walley: A daily diet of standards and ethics

Mark Walley, RICS’ new managing director for EMEA, outlines his priorities for the months ahead in a column for PropertyEU.

Having joined RICS a little over two years ago to lead the UK & Ireland team, it is a great honour to have been asked over the summer to lead the expanded EMEA team including the UK and Ireland. Being part of the RICS organisation is a real privilege as well as a daily source of excitement and opportunity. The people I work with, the members we look after and all the other stakeholders I meet with make the job fantastic.

Professional standards are at the heart of everything we do at RICS. When I left school I joined a bank and back then the conversation was that if you wanted a career, you needed to get professionally qualified. Over time, this emphasis shifted and whilst a focus on customer service and providing solutions (products) was a definite step forward, the shift from knowledge, understanding and a set of professional ethics went missing somewhere along the way.

With chartered status for surveyors being largely ‘voluntary’, especially outside the UK, it speaks volumes to me that members value the standards that RICS sets, monitors and regulates against. These are both technical standards as well as the ethics of how business is done. Wouldn’t the world of banking and finance be in a much better position if it, too, had pursued this path. It clearly had rules and regulations to follow but how effective was the enforcement and where was the fundamental knowledge and ethics?

Professional standards are the cornerstone of all RICS’ activities. Our members use them to do their jobs and give confidence to people like home buyers, property investors and governments. Our professional standards give our members status. More and more people want to join RICS to gain that status. More members means an increase in demand for their services, which in turn leads to more standards and more confident markets. That is good for everyone.

RICS is breaking new ground too. The world has largely adopted international standards in financial reporting yet the measurement and valuation of property are not grounded in globally consistent standards. ‘My’ property measurement might include the unbuilt final floor whilst yours might include a car park down the road and someone else might measure and value only what is actually at the site. In May this year we started working with bodies from around the globe to harmonise standards in both measurement and valuation. The coalition met at the World Bank which sponsored the initiative because they see how important it is for financial stability and financial access. I will be spending a good amount of time supporting these efforts across the EMEA region, working with my colleagues from our Professional Standards group.

So what else will I be focused on during the early months of my new role? Getting to know the markets, members and key accounts across the region; looking at our strategies for the Middle East, for Africa and for Russia; making sure our staff is really engaged with our vision and direction; ensuring we are delivering great service to our members. Oh yes, and recruiting two new directors to the team – one for the UK & Ireland and one for RICS Europe. Exciting times indeed!

Mark Walley is Regional Managing Director, RICS EMEA*

*RICS EMEA comprises 83,838 qualified members in Continental Europe, the UK, Ireland, Russia & CIS, Middle East and Africa