CORPORATE HARMONY AND CONFIDENCE BUILDING SPHERES ON THE FINANCIAL MARKET

Abstract

As the last financial crisis was caused by abuse of trust on the part of the financial institutions, this paper describes a proposed structure integrating sustainability and ethics based on trust and confidence. The author describes relations between business ethics and some theories of corporate governance and then sketches a square of rules and regulations in which the financial market with its regulations is immersed, split into four overlapping sectors of financial market law, company law, codes of best practices and corporate governance principles. Interactions between these sectors lead to the creation of an inner circle describing the integration sphere where all the areas merge together in harmony. The author then asks a question of whether trust can be measured and presents a possible solution with an example developed by the Hong Kong Institute of Directors. Lastly, the author formulates a proposal for the broadest understanding of corporate governance – corporate harmony.