News and commentary about white-collar crime, enforcement, and compliance
Harry Cassin
Publisher and Editor
Andy Spalding
Senior Editor
Jessica Tillipman
Senior Editor
Bill Steinman
Senior Editor
Richard L. Cassin
Editor at Large
Elizabeth K. Spahn
Editor Emeritus
Cody Worthington
Contributing Editor
Julie DiMauro
Contributing Editor
Thomas Fox
Contributing Editor
Marc Alain Bohn
Contributing Editor
Bill Waite
Contributing Editor
Russell A. Stamets
Contributing Editor
Richard Bistrong
Contributing Editor
Eric Carlson
Contributing Editor
New and old corporate dishonesty stories, such as Theranos, Wirecard, and Wells Fargo, highlight a fundamental weakness. Irrespective of the industry or the business maturity, the wrongdoing escalates when the lines of defense that should protect the organization from risk become Teflon barriers to any accountability process.… Continue Reading
After reaching quasi-pandemic proportions, the coronavirus virus is a perfect example of a high conduct-risk challenge. The rate at which the epidemic will continue to spread will largely depend on how people manage the risk of contagion and whether they comply with a number of precautionary measures.… Continue Reading
The latest Banking Standards Board (BSB) report, an executive summary of the BSB’s annual measurement of the culture in UK financial institutions, has been recently released. The report, the third since the Banking Standards Board started its measurement exercise in 2015, highlights some newsworthy findings about conduct risk in the British banking sector.… Continue Reading
A new report recently published by The Ethics and Compliance Initiative (ECI), the 2019 Global Business Ethics Survey, addresses the state of E&C programs across ten countries — USA, Brazil, UK, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Russia, India, and China.… Continue Reading
In a recent post, I shared insights from a code-of-conduct best practice study I recently conducted in collaboration with SAI Global. As noted in that post, “companies …are not neglecting all the design elements needed for the code to successfully influence the organization’s ethical orientation and culture.… Continue Reading
How well positioned are today’s code-of-conduct practices to meet the effectiveness criteria for Corporate Compliance Programs embedded in the latest DOJ guidelines? That is, “Is the compliance program well designed? Is it being implemented effectively?… Continue Reading
As news of potential mishandling in the development, certification, and pilot training for Boeing’s 737 Max continues to percolate, the possibility that both the crashes of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 and Lion Air flight 307 could have been avoided looms increasingly large.… Continue Reading
The Banking Standards Board (BSB) recently released the results of its second annual culture assessment across a sample of firms in the UK banking sector.
Established after the fallout of the Libor scandal as part of a larger effort to rebuild trust in the British financial system, the BSB is a private entity open to all banks and building societies operating in the United Kingdom.… Continue Reading
One of the most common discussions in the ethics and compliance community today revolves around the idea of using corporate values to foster ethics in organizations. Though this conversation has helped practitioners move away from a check-the-box compliance approach, practices based on corporate values have unwittingly created a check-the-box approach to ethics, obscuring the disconnect between external values and what the organization actually values.… Continue Reading
On October 8, 2017, Kobe Steel Group admitted to falsifying data about the strength and durability of aluminum and copper parts used by manufacturers of automobiles, bullet trains, and aircraft.
Initially presented as a breach occurring at four of its Japanese factories during 2017, the admission of wrongdoing would soon turn into a much more severe affair. … Continue Reading
The last few weeks have seen a crescendo of revelations about Oxfam. Since the Sunday Times broke the story that Oxfam personnel had engaged prostitutes during the earthquake rescue operations in Haiti, the charity found itself fronting a scandal of still unknown proportions.… Continue Reading