The financial crisis is moving markets, governments, businesses and tax payers into new territory where old ideas are beginning to show their age. Players in the market and regulators are struggling with having to work out some new rules for new realities. It is messy and there is a lot more to come!

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Transparency is very important because it affects other people's capacity to make good decisions. The term "transparency" is usually reserved for the public sector where decisions, particularly those involving money are subject to the common good, or public interest, and normally finally mandated by democratic processes, that is, if the voters don't agree, they exercise their disagreement at the ballot box.

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In these times of financial turmoil, ANZ's experience with OPES Prime offers some fertile ground for thinking about the differences and connections between two senses of the word “good”. There is a common suspicion that “good” in the sense of 'efficient' or 'productive' has nothing or little to do with “good” in the ethical sense. A good business in the efficient sense is one which returns good returns on investment; a good business in the ethical sense does not harm people and treats them with respect and fairness. Is there no necessary connection between these two senses of “good”?

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More than one analyst has made comparisons between the current financial crisis (now being described as a “meltdown”) and the Depression. The prospect is frightening to say the least. Banks do not want to risk their money by lending to other banks, and the longer that state of affairs continues the more quickly the world-wide economy will slide towards shutting down.
John Sweeney, Leader Edmund Rice Business Ethics Initiative

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