There is no substitute for a culture of integrity in organizations. Compliance alone with the law is not enough. History shows that those who make a practice of skating close to the edge always wind up going over the line. A higher bar of ethics performance is necessary. That bar needs to be set and monitored in the boardroom.  ~J. Richard Finlay writing in The Globe and Mail.

Sound governance is not some abstract ideal or utopian pipe dream. Nor does it occur by accident or through sudden outbreaks of altruism. It happens when leaders lead with integrity, when directors actually direct and when stakeholders demand the highest level of ethics and accountability.  ~ J. Richard Finlay in testimony before the Standing Committee on Banking, Commerce and the Economy, Senate of Canada.

The Finlay Centre for Corporate & Public Governance is the longest continuously cited voice on modern governance standards. Our work over the course of four decades helped to build the new paradigm of ethics and accountability by which many corporations and public institutions are judged today.

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The Finlay Centre was founded by J. Richard Finlay, one of the world’s most prescient voices for sound boardroom practices, sanity in CEO pay and the ethical responsibilities of trusted leaders. He coined the term stakeholder capitalism in the 1980s.

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We pioneered the attributes of environmental responsibility, social purposefulness and successful governance decades before the arrival of ESG. Today we are trying to rebuild the trust that many dubious ESG practices have shattered. 

 

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We were the first to predict seismic boardroom flashpoints and downfalls and played key roles in regulatory milestones and reforms.

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We’re working to advance the agenda of the new boardroom and public institution of today: diversity at the table; ethics that shine through a culture of integrity; the next chapter in stakeholder capitalism; and leadership that stands as an unrelenting champion for all stakeholders.

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Our landmark work in creating what we called a culture of integrity and the ethical practices of trusted organizations has been praised, recognized and replicated around the world.

 

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Our rich institutional memory, combined with a record of innovative thinking for tomorrow’s challenges, provide umatached resources to corporate and public sector players.

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Trust is the asset that is unseen until it is shattered.  When crisis hits, we know a thing or two about how to rebuild trust— especially in turbulent times.

We’re still one of the world’s most recognized voices on CEO pay and the role of boards as compensation credibility gatekeepers. Somebody has to be.

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Outrage of the Week: Canada’s Clueless Corporate Crime Cops (continued)

outrage 12.jpgWhen the reputation of a major securities regulator like the OSC begins to look more like the reality show The Biggest Loser, you know you have a problem that needs fixing.

The trial that began with criminal charges over the Bre-X fraud took six years and ended with the Ontario Securities Commission losing completely. The cost of the investigation and trial soared into seven figures. Charges involving another company, Atlas Cold Storage, resulted in the OSC’s abandoning its prosecution in mid-trial. More recently, the regulator’s nearly seven year stock tipping and insider trading case against Andrew Rankin, the former managing director of RBC Dominion Securities, after unraveling on appeal, yesterday came down to his paying $250,000 to settle the matter. No conviction will be recorded. The costs of that investigation and trial also mount into the millions. The OSC’s charges involving executives at Livent and Hollinger are still to be heard. They would probably move ahead faster if they were sitting on a glacier.

As The Centre for Corporate & Public Governance noted today in a statement about the Rankin settlement:

The regulator’s decision gives rise to troubling questions as to whether this is the proper outcome in light of the facts of the case and the high costs incurred by the OSC, and whether it will serve as an adequate deterrent to stock tipping and insider trading in the future. In addition, there are concerns being expressed widely within and outside Canada about the OSC’s judgment and overall competence in the enforcement field, given this and other events in the recent past.

As we have observed before on these pages and in this post more recently, the OSC’s problems fundamentally come down to an issue of governance: too many people are engaged in playing too many roles as policy makers, investigators and adjudicators with a level of oversight that lacks both transparency and efficacy.

You have to ask yourself how much more evidence and how many more embarrassments do Ontario’s lawmakers need before they get the message that the OSC is operating as a dysfunctional and underperforming institution? If they spent any time talking to investors, and especially those outside Ontario, they would have no doubt.

When the reputation of a major securities regulator begins to resemble the reality show The Biggest Loser, you know you have a problem that needs fixing.