Alcoa’s Board of Directors recently appointed Susan Ringler to the position of Vice President and Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer. Ringler has been Deputy General Counsel of Xylem Inc., a global water technology company spun off from ITT Corporation, since 2011. Prior to that, Ringler created and implemented ITT Corporation’s first global anti-corruption program.

The chief executive of a United Kingdom (UK) energy supplier recently fined £10.5 million for misleading potential customers has contrasted the company's conduct to more "deep-rooted problems" in today's banking sector, commenting in an interview with BBC News that "[SSE Energy Supply Ltd (SSE)] did provide the energy ... to [its] customers ... whereas [w]hat were [banks] providing? Was there any value to the customer [in] insurance products that would not pay out?".

UNI Global Union has announced that over 30 clothing and retail brands that source garments from Bangladesh have agreed to the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh (13 May 2013) (the Accord), which now covers over 1,000 Bangladeshi garment factories for a five-year period. The Accord commits its parties to "the goal of a safe and sustainable Bangladeshi [ready-made garment] industry in which no worker needs to fear fires, building collapses, or other accidents that could be prevented with reasonable health and safety measures".

Bloomberg chief executive officer Danial Doctoroff has released a statement regarding concerns raised by subscribers to its news service that Bloomberg journalists had access to subscriber data through "Bloomberg Terminals" installed by subscribers. Mr Doctoroff stated that "[a]lthough we have long made limited customer relationship data available to our journalists, we realize this was a mistake" and that the company "took immediate action" to rectify the situation.

This 2013 Compliance and Ethics Benchmarking Survey report consolidates the results of an informational benchmarking survey of compliance and ethics professionals conducted by SAI Global and Baker & McKenzie in late 2012 and early 2013, as they finalized their plans for 2013. With topics that cover compliance program resources, budget and management considerations, and sections reviewing such program components as policy management, hotline and case management, third-party risk management, risk assessments, and training, this report presents a comprehensive measurement of what is guiding program decisions and priority rankings globally.

United States (US) Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairperson Mary Jo White has announced that she will review the SEC's policy of allowing cases to be settled without requiring defendants to admit or deny wrongdoing. According to AP, certain parties including a federal judge have criticised the policy for purported shortcomings in deterring repeat breaches.

SAC Capital Advisors (SAC) hedge fund manager Steven Cohen has announced that SAC will be implementing a policy next year to obtain or "claw-back" compensation from employees who use information retrieved through illegal means. According to Reuters, SAC is also preventing employees from contacting individuals outside upper management at publicly traded companies.

Last Week through its annual proxy statement, Wal-Mart announced that 2014 cash bonuses for top executives will be based partly on the company meeting certain compliance objectives.

Australia-based department store chain Myer has released a social media statement #1 (2 May 2013) including an apology for earlier comments made in criticism of the Australian Government's proposal to fund a new national disability insurance scheme through a 0.5% increase in the Australian general healthcare scheme levy, which is currently collected from 1.5% of taxable income.

Securities firm Morgan Stanley and ratings agencies Standard & Poor's Rating Services and Moody's Investors Service have agreed to pay a total of US$225 million to settle allegations that they misrepresented the risks in the so-called Cheyne and Rhinebridge cases involving mortgages during the global financial crisis.