CCI staff share recent surveys, reports and analysis on risk, compliance, governance, infosec and leadership issues. Share details of your survey with us: editor@corporatecomplianceinsights.com.
IBE survey: Only 35% of UK adults believe businesses generally are ethical
The British public’s trust in institutions like government, business and the media fell to the lowest level in four years, according to a long-running survey by the Institute of Business Ethics (IBE), which found that only about 14% of those polled believe politicians behave ethically compared to 35% who said the same about businesses and 21% about the media.
In its 21st annual survey, IBE found that 47% of the UK adults surveyed said businesses generally behave in an unethical way. More specifically, the survey highlighted several areas of concern to the British public, including corporate tax avoidance (43%), bribery and corruption (30%), executive pay (28%) and environmental responsibility (22%).
Those top four ethical issues have remained consistent over the past two years, but employees’ ability to speak out about company wrongdoing has now entered the top five concerns.
“High-profile sexual harassment and whistleblowing cases in the last year might have increased the public’s understanding of the importance of a healthy speak-up culture,” IBE director Ian Peters said in a news release.
Analysis: 44% of finserv firms ban WhatsApp & WeChat
Amid a continued crackdown over off-channel communication and electronic recordkeeping, almost half of compliance teams at financial institutions have banned WhatsApp and We Chat, according to an analysis by Global Relay, a compliance software provider.
Global Relay’s report also found that nearly two-thirds of surveyed leaders (65%) said getting employees to comply with electronic communications rules is their biggest challenge, up from about 62% in 2023.
While many compliance teams have opted for outright bans in certain channels, more than 17% said they allow employees to use any communication channel and monitor them all, up from about 10% last year.
Study: Most companies reporting about decarbonization measures don’t quantify impact
Heavily carbon-emitting companies with carbon reduction targets largely fail to qualify the effects of their decarbonization efforts, according to an analysis by sustainability tech provider Clarity.AI.
The analysis, which conducted using a large language model, covered the climate transition plans of more than 300 of high-emitting companies across sectors like oil and gas, utilities, aerospace and defense and found that while more than eight in 10 of the analyzed companies reported on their decarbonization measures, only 40% clearly quantified the impact of their efforts. Companies in Japan (67%) and Europe (48%) were the most likely to quantify their decarbonization measures.
Businesses in the oil and gas sector (62%) were the most likely not to quantify their decarbonization measures, followed by those in the chemicals and automotive manufacturing (44% each) and utilities (43%) sectors. Furthermore, oil and gas companies were also the least likely to report their decarbonization measures and quantify their impact, with only 24% doing both. In addition, 14% of oil and gas companies do not report on decarbonization efforts entirely.
“It’s no longer enough to look at companies’ commitments and ambitions regarding carbon reduction targets. Nowadays, investors are eager to understand the credibility of these commitments and want to know whether companies have a realistic and meaningful plan to achieve them,” Nico Fettes, director of climate at Clarity AI, said in a news release.
