Corporate ethics and practices are increasingly in the sights of
regulators as a growing number of scandals prompt action.
The global economy has recently seen an increase in the level of
regulatory enforcement and Australian companies are becoming used
to operating in an environment where corporations and securities
regulators, prudential regulators and competition regulators are
granted significantly increased powers which they actively
deploy.
As an aside, the integrity of the financial sector was again
called into question last month as the US Securities and Exchange
Commission launched an investigation into the trading activities of
Goldman Sachs.
The events which confronted Rio Tinto in China and, more
recently, the reports of investigations into BHP Billiton's
activities suggest that Australia is about to experience the
effects of another enforcement trend which has so far passed it
by.
