In response to this, Thomson Reuters Connect 4 has added ‘Whistleblower Policy’ and ‘Anti-bribery and Corruption Policy’ to its list of ‘C4 exclusive’ Announcement Types in the Company Announcements module. These were added to company announcements lodged from January 2020 as well as to announcements dating back to February 2019.

Connect 4 has since revealed that, from February 2019 to February 2020 inclusive, only five Anti-bribery and Corruption policies have been lodged with the ASX versus fifty-five Whistleblower policies. Interestingly, four of the five Anti-bribery and Corruption policies were lodged as part of a ‘corporate governance plan’ that contained all policies.

Given that both policies take effect at that same time, the question has to be asked, why is the lodging of Whistleblower policies more prevalent over the same period than Anti-bribery and Corruption policies? Does this reflect a view that whistleblowing is of a higher importance to corporate governance than anti-bribery and corruption?

Note: The new recommendations from the 4^th edition take effect for an ASX listed entity’s first full financial year commencing on or after 1 January 2020. The ASX Corporate Governance Council encourages ASX listed entities to adopt the 4th edition earlier, if they wish.

Connect 4 features 24 active and 4 historic ‘C4 exclusive’ announcement types (in addition to those provided by the ASX) in its interface, giving users enhanced search and alerting options.