Treasurer Code of Conduct

Status: v1.0 draft. Counsel posture confirmed by Drew 2026-06-05; counsel review continues as a parallel workstream, not a build gate. The version below is the platform's proposed text; the final version of this Code is amendable only through the §9 process and through Town Hall governance (see TEP Methodology §9.1 for the change procedure).

This Code is profession-led, not platform-led. Circlworld convenes its drafting and publishes the version of record; the Treasurer community (through the Treasurer Council and the Selection Committee) administers compliance and adjudicates breach.

For Members: A plain-language walkthrough of the six pillars — with examples from practitioner practice, common pitfalls, and reflection prompts — is at /learn/treasurer-code-of-conduct. Read it before signing at each tier certification; revisit when you face a difficult decision. The Charter below is the constitutional source.

Preamble

A Treasurer on Circlworld holds a position of trust. The Members of a Circle entrust the Treasurer with the coordination of their cycle, the integrity of their record, the discretion of their disputes, and — in part — the public face of their financial cooperation. Money does not pass through the Treasurer's hands (custody belongs to the Circle's own co-operative form, not to any individual), but trust does.

This Code sets out the standards a Treasurer accepts when they take on the role. It is the profession's standards expressed in plain language. It is not the platform's rulebook over an employee. The Treasurer is not employed by Circlworld; the Treasurer is an independent professional who has accepted a Member-elected role with platform-paid fees for the work done.

The six pillars below are the substantive standards. The operational sections that follow set out when the Code is signed, how breach is assessed, who decides, and how amendments are made.

Pillar 1 — Fiduciary care for Members' interests

A Treasurer acts in the interests of the Members of each Circle they administer, in good faith, and with care.

1.1 The duty

(a) The Treasurer's first duty is to the Members of the Circles they administer.

(b) Where the Treasurer's personal interest conflicts with the interest of any Circle they administer, the Treasurer discloses the conflict to the affected Members and recuses themself from decisions where the conflict has material weight.

(c) The Treasurer does not transact for personal gain in connection with their Treasurer role beyond the TEP fees properly accrued to them under the TEP Methodology.

1.2 Mandatory recusal triggers

The Treasurer must recuse themself from decision-making within a Circle in any of the following circumstances:

(a) A loan, payout, or distribution where the Treasurer or a member of their immediate family is the borrower, recipient, or beneficiary.

(b) A dispute where the Treasurer or a member of their immediate family is a party.

(c) A Bylaws amendment where the Treasurer has a direct personal interest in the outcome distinct from the Circle's Members' shared interest.

(d) Any other circumstance where a reasonable Member, in possession of the facts, would conclude that the Treasurer's judgement is impaired.

1.3 Self-dealing prohibition

The Treasurer does not direct Circle resources — multi-signature approvals, dispute outcomes, Bylaws interpretation — to advantage themself, their family, or any party with whom they have a non-Circle relationship that creates a conflict.

1.4 The good-faith standard

The Treasurer acts in good faith. Honest mistakes made in good faith, with reasonable care, are not breaches of this pillar. Decisions made for personal advantage or in bad faith are.

1.5 Maintained competence

Fiduciary care is not a one-time qualification. The Treasurer maintains the competence appropriate to their Tier by holding the Circl Academy certification required for that Tier and by completing the Pedagogy-Council-mandated refresh cycle (Custody Framework refresh, Code of Conduct refresh, and any tier-specific module the Council publishes).

Maintenance protects the Members the Treasurer serves: the platform's practice evolves — through DSC outcomes, Custody Framework iterations, regulatory drift in each jurisdiction, and cross-tradition learning — and a Treasurer operating against stale knowledge is not exercising the good-faith care this pillar requires.

The contractual shape of the maintenance obligation, the tier-hold mechanism for lapsed certification, and the exemptions (Recognition of Prior Learning for diaspora practitioners with documented practice; grace period after initial certification; documented leave; zero-Circle status; Pedagogy Council subject-matter advisors within their tradition area) are set out in Treasurer Agreement v2.0 §9.5. This pillar is the conduct expression of that contractual obligation: maintaining competence is part of what the Treasurer accepts when accepting the role, not a separate compliance burden bolted on.

A formal Continuous Professional Development scheme will extend this pillar when the Pedagogy Council has authored the free-category modules and the Scholarship Pool extension is operating-procedure-approved. Until that scheme is incorporated, the certification-maintenance obligation in this §1.5 is the operative competence-maintenance duty.

Pillar 2 — Custodianship of trust, under the Custody Framework

The Treasurer's custody role is governed by the Custody Framework Charter — the canonical three-category architecture cited by every custody-touching document on the platform.

2.1 The three custody categories

(a) Category A — Regular cycle contributions. Member-to-member or escrow-held, chosen by Member vote at Circle formation, recorded in the Bylaws. Member-to-member custody is available only within a single jurisdiction. The Treasurer administers the Circle under whichever model the Members elected; the Treasurer accepted the custody model when accepting the role.

(b) Category B — Loan accounts and the Circle Protection Reserve. Escrow-held only. Member vote does not apply. Multi-signature mandate is constitutional. The account is opened in the name of the Circle's own member-constituted co-operative legal form. The Treasurer is never a single signatory on disbursement of Category B funds.

(c) Category C — Cross-border Circles. Escrow-held only for all categories of money flowing through that Circle. Member-to-member custody is not available where any Member resides outside the Treasurer's jurisdiction, where the Treasurer resides outside any Member's jurisdiction, or where contribution currency does not match the Treasurer's banking jurisdiction.

The Treasurer accepts these distinctions as constitutional. The Member-vote in Category A is the Circle's choice; the rules in Categories B and C are not subject to vote.

2.2 Member-to-member custody (Category A only, within a single jurisdiction)

Where the Circle has voted Member-to-member custody under Category A:

(a) The Treasurer does NOT hold cycle contributions in any personal account. Each round, members contribute directly through their own bank accounts to whichever member is due that round's payout. The Treasurer publishes the receiving member's routing details, records each contribution on the platform, and confirms each payout. The Treasurer's fiduciary duty to the Circle's Members applies in respect of the coordination, the record, and the rotation — not custody of cycle funds.

(b) The Treasurer keeps Circle funds practically segregated from personal funds. Even with intention to replace, Circle funds are not used for personal purposes at any time.

(c) The Treasurer confirms receipt of contributions in the dual-attestation flow within the time the Circle's Bylaws require, and disburses payouts on the agreed rotation.

(d) The Treasurer maintains personal records of every contribution received and every payout disbursed, in addition to the platform's audit trail.

(e) The Treasurer's bank acceptance of the Circle activity is confirmed under the Custody Framework §2.4 before commencement.

2.3 Escrow-held custody (Categories A by vote, B and C constitutional)

Where the Circle's funds sit in escrow:

(a) The dedicated multi-signature account is opened in the name of the Circle's (or federation's) own member-constituted co-operative legal form. The bank or credit union custodying the account is the account provider only — never the lender, never the decision-maker on disbursement.

(b) The Treasurer is never a single signatory on any disbursement under escrow custody. The multi-signature mandate (at least two of the elected Lending Committee for any Category B pool; at least two of the Circle's mandated signatories for Category A escrow cycle disbursement) is absolute.

2.4 Multi-custody Circles

Where a Circle operates Category A under Member-to-member custody and Category B (a lending pool or CPR) under escrow-only custody simultaneously, the Treasurer administers the two categories in separate accounts under different rules:

(a) Member-to-member cycle account holds Category A cycle contributions only.

(b) Escrow-held pool / CPR account holds Category B funds only.

(c) The Treasurer never commingles the two flows. Pool money does not sit in the Treasurer's personal account, even temporarily. Cycle contributions do not sit in the pool's dedicated account.

2.5 The Treasurer is not the bank, the lender, or the deposit-taker

(a) The Treasurer is not a deposit-taker, not a credit provider, not a lender — regardless of which custody category they administer. The Treasurer does not represent themself to Members or to any third party as any of those things.

(b) Where the Circle operates a lending pool, the lender is the Circle (at L0/L1) or the federation (at L2), acting through its own member-constituted co-operative legal form. The Treasurer administers; the Treasurer does not lend.

(c) The Treasurer's personal accountability under Member-to-member custody is fiduciary duty to Members, not a deposit-taking relationship. The Treasurer's role under escrow-held custody is coordination under multi-signature mandate, not custody.

2.6 Reconciliation discipline

The Treasurer reconciles activity to the platform's audit trail on the cadence required by the Circle's Bylaws and the platform's standard reporting — regardless of which custody category applies. Discrepancies are investigated. Unresolved discrepancies are raised through the Help Office.

Pillar 3 — Communication isolation respect

What Members share in private stays in private. Personal communication — direct messages, Care Concierge intake, Dispute Settlement Centre mediation, Wellbeing follow-ups — never enters the platform's AI generator context, never reaches another Member without consent, never reaches the Treasurer's personal channels.

3.1 The principle

(a) The Treasurer respects Inviolable Principle 3: communication-isolated content remains within the surface it was authored on. The Treasurer does not export, screenshot, forward, or otherwise re-surface a Member's private communication to any audience the Member did not address.

(b) The Treasurer does not feed Member communications to any AI assist, summariser, or external system without the Member's specific consent for the specific use.

(c) The Treasurer does not request, induce, or pressure a Member to disclose private communication addressed to a third party.

3.2 Selective disclosure under consent

(a) Where a Member generates a Shared Trust Report and includes the Treasurer as a recipient, the Treasurer receives only the content the Member elected to include, for the duration the Member set.

(b) Where the Treasurer is requested to verify a Member's record to a third party (a bank, an employer, a landlord), the verification is processed through the platform's Verification Link mechanism — never as a personal endorsement and never with disclosure beyond what the Member authorised.

3.3 Mediation privilege

Content shared inside a Dispute Settlement Centre mediation is without-prejudice. The Treasurer who is a party to or a witness in a DSC mediation does not disclose its content to other Members, to other Circles, to the open Forum, to the Plaza, or to any external party.

Pillar 4 — Cultural humility

The Treasurer operates within the Circle's chosen tradition, not above it. Where the Bylaws of a Circle reflect the practice of pardna, susu, chama, ajo, or any other tradition, the Treasurer applies those bylaws as the Members have written them.

4.1 The principle

(a) The Treasurer's preferences do not override the Circle's Bylaws. Where the Treasurer disagrees with a Bylaw, the path is to propose an amendment under the Circle's amendment procedure — not to administer the Bylaw differently from its plain meaning.

(b) The Treasurer does not impose practice from one tradition onto a Circle that has adopted a different tradition's bylaws.

(c) Where a tradition's practice differs from the platform's default templates, the tradition governs the Circle, the platform's templates being defaults that can be customised by Members under the Cultural Architecture Policy v2.0.

4.2 Linguistic respect

(a) The Treasurer uses the vocabulary the Circle's Members use to describe their tradition. The Treasurer does not translate or generalise tradition-specific vocabulary (pardna, susu, hand, throw, banker, etc.) into platform-neutral terms in communications with that Circle's Members.

(b) Where the Treasurer is administering circles across multiple traditions, the Treasurer learns and uses the vocabulary of each.

4.3 Member-led practice

The Cultural Architecture Policy v2.0 (2026-05-30) places cultural decisioning with Members — through Bylaws, Town Hall, Dispute Settlement Centre — rather than with platform advisors. The Treasurer operates within that structure; the Treasurer does not become a substitute cultural authority.

Pillar 5 — Mediation as first response

When something goes wrong inside a Circle, the Treasurer's first action is to route the matter through the Dispute Settlement Centre or the Help Office. The Treasurer does not litigate, retaliate, escalate publicly, or weaponise Standing against a Member.

5.1 The principle

(a) Where a Member raises a concern, the Treasurer acknowledges promptly, listens fully, and routes to the appropriate venue.

(b) The Treasurer engages in good-faith mediation. Where mediation is offered, the Treasurer participates substantively, not formally.

(c) The Treasurer does not retaliate against a Member who has raised a concern — through Standing adjustment, dispute initiation, Circle removal, or any other mechanism within the Treasurer's authority.

5.2 The Treasurer's authority is bounded

(a) The Treasurer does not decide a dispute in which they are a party. Disputes go to the Dispute Settlement Centre under the Lending Dispute Pathway or the general DSC procedure.

(b) The Treasurer does not decide a Member's Standing. The Standing record is computed by the platform's methodology; the Treasurer does not amend, suppress, or annotate a Member's Standing record outside the published mechanisms.

(c) The Treasurer does not penalise a Member for legitimate exercise of their rights — to raise a dispute, to leave a Circle under the Bylaws, to disclose information to a regulator, to take any matter outside the platform.

5.3 Public communication discipline

The Treasurer does not publicly characterise a Member's conduct in the Plaza, the Forum, the Coffee House, or any external venue. Where public communication about a Circle situation is needed, the Treasurer uses the structured Circle Announcement mechanism with the appropriate visibility scope.

Pillar 6 — Transparency in your own conduct

The Treasurer operates under observation by design. Decisions are logged, TEP fees are recorded, tier history is recorded, dispute outcomes are recorded. The Treasurer accepts this as the trade-off for the role's authority.

6.1 The principle

(a) The Treasurer does not request that decisions be unrecorded, that TEP fees be off-ledger, or that tier history be hidden from the appropriate audience.

(b) The Treasurer signs the responsibilities acknowledgement at each certification and re-signs on material amendment. The signed acknowledgement is part of the Treasurer's record.

(c) The Treasurer cooperates with reasonable requests for clarification of decisions made in the role, with the limit that communication-isolated content remains protected (Pillar 3).

6.2 The audit posture

(a) The platform maintains an audit trail of Treasurer decisions that affect Members. The Treasurer accepts that this audit trail exists and that authorised review of it (Selection Committee, Treasurer Council, DSC where a dispute is raised) is part of the role.

(b) The audit trail is not a surveillance mechanism. It records actions, not deliberation. The Treasurer's deliberation, judgement, and private notes are the Treasurer's own and are protected at Layer 1 of the Registrar.

6.3 Public Treasurer Profile

The Treasurer accepts that the fact of certification, the current tier, years served, circles administered (in number), endorsements as Treasurer, and successful cycles are public on the Public Treasurer Profile by the platform's default for community leaders. The Treasurer does not request that this baseline visibility be suppressed.

Application of this Code

When the Code is signed

The Treasurer signs the Code:

(a) At completion of the Treasurer Foundation Course before serving as Community Builder (entry tier).

(b) At completion of each subsequent certification — Intermediate (for Community Organiser), Advanced (for Community Leader), Multi-jurisdictional (for Community Architect).

(d) At any other point where the Treasurer Council or the Selection Committee requires re-signing, with reasons given.

What signing means

(a) The Treasurer signs that they have read and understood the Code, that they accept its standards as the standards of their profession, and that they will administer their Circles in accordance with it.

(b) The signature is part of the Treasurer's record and is referenced in any breach assessment.

(c) Refusal to sign — initial, on amendment, or on requested re-signing — is incompatible with serving as a Treasurer at the relevant tier.

Breach assessment

Who assesses

Breach of the Code is assessed by profession-led bodies, not by Circlworld staff acting alone:

(a) Routine compliance review — Treasurer Council (peer body, Member-elected). Considers patterns and minor breaches with the Treasurer's input.

(b) Material breach review — Selection Committee (independent panel, Member- and peer-nominated). Considers serious breach allegations with full procedural protections for the Treasurer.

(c) Dispute Settlement Centre — where a breach allegation arises from a specific Circle dispute, the matter routes to the DSC under the standard procedure. Findings inform the Selection Committee's review where the matter has Code-of-Conduct dimensions.

Circlworld administers and records the outcomes; Circlworld does not adjudicate Code-of-Conduct breach unilaterally. (See TEP Methodology §6.4 — the Selection Committee mechanism is the cornerstone here.)

What can happen

A finding of breach can result in:

(a) No action — where the finding is in the Treasurer's favour, or where the matter was a good-faith mistake remedied promptly.

(b) Remediation — re-training, mentorship pairing, a remediation plan with a defined runway (typically 60 days).

(c) Demotion — the Treasurer's current tier is reduced (per the demotion-window state in the Treasurer Tier Algorithm). Certification at the previous tier is retained as a historical record; current tier reflects current standing.

(d) Removal — the Treasurer is removed from the TEP under TEP Methodology §6.4. Accrued TEP fees are paid; future accrual ceases. Re-application may be possible after a cooling-off period if the breach was not of a kind that fundamentally disqualifies further service.

(e) Referral — where the breach is of a kind that may attract external legal or regulatory consequences, the matter is referred to the appropriate external authority. The Treasurer is informed.

Procedural protections

The Treasurer subject to a breach assessment has the right to:

(a) Receive written notice of the allegation, with the substance described.

(b) Receive copies of the evidence the assessing body proposes to rely on.

(d) Be supported by the Treasurer Council, the Help Office, or independent advice of their choosing.

(e) Receive the assessing body's decision in writing, with reasons.

(f) Appeal to the Dispute Settlement Centre's appellate procedure where the matter is appealable.

Amendment of the Code

When the Code can change

(a) Material amendments require the TEP Methodology §9.1 procedure: 60 days' notice to all Treasurers, consultation in the Forum, transitional grandfathering where appropriate, and approval through Town Hall governance.

(b) Minor adjustments — clarifications, technical corrections — are made under §9.2 and recorded in the version history below.

(c) Annual review — the Code is reviewed annually for clarity, defensibility, alignment with the Cultural Architecture Policy and the rest of the platform's constitutional framework.

Who proposes amendments

(a) Circlworld may propose amendments through its counsel.

(b) The Treasurer Council may propose amendments.

(d) Member panels in Town Hall may propose amendments.

Proposed amendments are considered by the Treasurer Council in consultation with counsel; material amendments then proceed through the §9.1 procedure.

Acknowledgement

By signing this Code at certification, the Treasurer acknowledges that they have read and understood the six pillars, the application of the Code, the breach-assessment procedure, and the amendment procedure. The Treasurer accepts the Code as the standards of their profession and agrees to administer their Circles in accordance with it.

The Treasurer further acknowledges that:

(a) the Code expresses the profession's standards, not the platform's instructions to an employee;

(b) compliance is assessed by profession-led bodies with procedural protections for the Treasurer;

(d) signing this Code is a continuing commitment that survives tier promotion and that is re-affirmed at each subsequent certification and material amendment.

— End of the Treasurer Code of Conduct —

Version history

| Version | Date | Change | Process | |---|---|---|---| | v1.0 | 2026-06-03 | Initial draft | Drafted by Circlworld counsel; pending §9.1 consultation + Town Hall approval before becoming binding |

Plain-language one-line summary

The Treasurer's job is to take care of the Members' trust honestly, never touch their money personally, keep what's private private, defer to the Circle's tradition, mediate before they litigate, and accept that the role is observed because the role has authority — and the standards of the profession are made and enforced by the profession itself, not by the platform alone.