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Inadequate Regard for Corporate Governance Caused US Financial System Collapse: Western Expert

Business Materials 24 September 2008 18:00 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, 24 September / Trend corr. A.Badalova/ Inadequate regard for good corporate governance caused the collapse of the US financial system, James Wilson, Director of the EU Ukraine Business Council, said.     

Last week was full of negative news for US financial system. Bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, merging of Merrill Lynch and Bank of America, the news that Morgan Stanley, one of the last of survived banks, is seeking a partner to merge with, made the governments of several leading powers and their central banks to coordinate measures to struggle the world crisis.

"I believe that the system has been failed due to inadequate regard for good corporate governance. By this I mean that good companies that have systems in place to set good standards of governance, including the management of risk, will survive and be stronger as a result of the current turmoil," Wilson said to Trend via e-mail on 24 September.

"I believe that we will see a requirement for companies to adhere to programmes that require a much stronger observance of standards of governance, and that investors will be more careful to check company performance in this area in the future. I do not think this process will be government driven, but it will be investor driven, and stock exchange driven," he said.

"All business sectors are exposed, as firstly there is a global fall in business confidence, that is impacting on orders across all sectors, and secondly capital to fund debt will become much more difficult, and this will impact on the ability of companies to grow quickly," said Wilson.

EU Ukraine Business Council is an independent forum held for largest European companies' heads. The Council was established by non-profit organizations to stimulate trade and investments between EU and Ukraine, to assist companies to expand their commercial opportunities, as well as to promote the dialogue between the governments and the business so as to overpass the obstacles on the way to markets and the regulative barriers, which the Ukrainian business in EU and the European business in Ukraine are facing.

The correspondent can be contacted at [email protected]

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