Boardroom Brief: Week commencing 26 February 2024

This is a service specifically targeted at the needs of busy non-executive directors (NEDs). We aim to give you a ‘heads up’ on the things that matter for NEDs in the week ahead - all in two minutes or less. In this edition, we discuss the publication of revised environmental, social and governance (ESG) engagement guidelines for listed companies by the Australasian Investor Relations Association (AIRA), and the Market Integrity Update issued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for the month of February, which encourages market participants to take a vigilant approach to cyber resilience. We also examine the recent decision of the Australian Competition Tribunal (Tribunal) to overturn the decision of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and approve the acquisition of Suncorp Group Limited (Suncorp) by ANZ Banking Group Limited (ANZ), and the Federal Court of Australia decision which imposed a criminal conviction on two former CEOs and their respective companies for engaging in criminal cartel conduct. In Over the Horizon, we discuss the competition-related events that have dominated domestic news headlines in the past week.