Compliance & Ethics

The Italian Competition Authority has fined Man Project €300,000 for what it determined to be an unfair commercial practice involving the sale of clothing items under the Coveri Tailor brand. According to the Authority, the company misled consumers by presenting garments as discounted items from earlier or higher-priced collections, when in fact the products had never been sold in traditional retail stores.

India’s National Stock Exchange (NSE) has set aside nearly $148 million (₹13 billion) to resolve regulatory cases pending with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), according to a Reuters report. The move signals a potential breakthrough in the exchange’s years-long effort to move ahead with a long-delayed initial public offering.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has granted temporary exemptive relief extending compliance deadlines for several amended provisions under Regulation NMS, citing recent legal developments and market readiness concerns.

Ben & Jerry’s is an activist brand. It operates under a unique mission-driven board configuration that sets it apart from most subsidiaries of large corporations. Although owned by Unilever, the company maintains a semi-independent board specifically tasked with safeguarding its social mission, which includes environmental sustainability, human rights, and ethical business practices. This hybrid governance model combines traditional corporate oversight with dedicated representatives who ensure that Ben & Jerry’s activism and ethical commitments remain central to its decision-making. The board includes independent directors, Unilever representatives, employee voices, and social mission advocates, creating a structure designed to balance profitability with purpose, a rare approach in the corporate world.

The Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) has fined Forvis Mazars Accountants €446,000 for failing to prevent or detect widespread exam fraud within the firm, a breach that the regulator says strikes at the very credibility of the audit profession.

It’s been a long decade for authenticity. Once the darling of brand strategy, it’s now nursing a moral hangover. Every company claimed a purpose, every CEO went on LinkedIn to “get real,” and every product came with a sustainability story just waiting to be debunked.

Singapore’s competition regulator is inviting the business community to weigh in on a refreshed approach to how it reviews mergers and settles investigations — a move aimed at making compliance smoother and decision-making faster.