More than 140 CEOs, board chairs, GRC leaders, in-house counsel and government and regulatory officials attended the 1st Annual Asia Ethics Summit, which was jointly hosted by Ethisphere Institute and Asian Legal Business in Hong Kong on Dec. 4 and 5, 2013.
The event, held at the Renaissance Harbourview Hotel in Hong Kong, raised a number of important talking points and explored some critical issues as distinguished panelists from the world’s largest companies as well as senior government officials discussed challenges faced by compliance and ethics professionals in Asia while navigating an increasingly complex and daunting legal landscape.
The summit kicked off with a moderated keynote featuring Gavin Morgan, COO and Head of Leasing at Jones Lang LaSalle in Hong Kong, who the discussed state of ethics and compliance in Asia from the viewpoint of a senior industry leader. This was followed by an animated panel discussion on ethics challenges faced by multinationals in Asia featuring a diverse set of panelists: Owen Jones of Hitachi Data Systems, Jean-Luc Gustave of Thomson Reuters Risk and Tan Sri Abu Kassim bin Mohamed, Chief Commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.
Up next was an interesting discussion featuring Gary Seib, a Hong Kong-based partner at Baker & McKenzie, Stanley Lui of Nobel Biocare Asia and Ben Wootliff of Control Risks, who discussed the role of anti-corruption efforts throughout key Asian markets, including t best practices in anti-corruption program development for companies.
This was followed by two discussions on what companies are doing to reinforce ethics programmes and make sure transgressions are immediately identified and corrected. Geordie Toh of Cisco Systems, Ellen Proctor of GE and Celina Teh of ABB discussed how their companies used technology to reinforce ethics across the globe, including measurement and data that the companies look for when developing their programs. Meanwhile Mike Delikat of and Andrew Dale of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe discussed with TJ Tan of FTI Consulting on how companies should be ready to conduct prompt and thorough investigations of corporate wrongdoing at a moment’s notice, and also the legal and practical best practices companies should have in place to conduct investigations when they are warranted.
The day ended with two interesting and topical sessions: Haibin Xue of Hexagon and Michelle N. Gon of Baker & McKenzie shared their insights into navigating China’s complex regulatory code, and best practices in building an ethical culture in China, while John Cashin of Zurich Insurance, Adam Ichikawa of Sompo Japan Insurance and Rob Garretson of ACADEMI discussed how Asian companies use ethical behavior as a competitive advantage in global strategy, as an enabler of growth into new markets and a way to further define a company’s reputation.
Day 2 began with a moderated keynote on the role of the leader and cultural differences when it came it ethical leadership, and featured Barry Stowe, the CEO of Prudential Asia and Margie Yang, the chairperson of the Esquel Group. This was followed by a session on the benefits on challenges on adapting an international ethics and compliance program created in North America to Asia, and covered how companies can handle compliance and ethics when quickly expanding overseas, apart from adjust to cultural sensitivities. The speakers included Diana Dai of Alibaba Group and Poovanna Ammatanda of Kennametal Singapore.
With intellectual property being a hot topic, the IP session was an important one too, touching on the issue of adherence to intellectual property regulations when operating throughout Asia. Ang Kwee Tiang of IFPI’s Asian Regional Office, Rayan Tai of React.org and Jason Yao of Acushnet talked about what companies can do to ensure their IP is secure, and to further reinforce intellectual property safety around the region.
This was followed by a special session featuring an industry thought leader. In a moderated keynote, Wanda Denson-Low, Senior Vice-President, Office of Internal Governance at Boeing, talked about how adherence ethics can have provide business advantages as well. She argued that companies could stick to their code of conduct and also achieve business success, thus eliminating the need to compromise and give in to questionable business practices.
The summit ended with a panel titled “Regulatory Developments throughout Asia,” featuring Wesley Wong, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions at Hong Kong’s Department of Justice, and Albert Ho, CFE Assistant Commissioner of Hong Kong’s Customs and Excise Department.
