SHOULDN’T we at least feel a bit nervous when there’s a loosening of the rules on related-party transactions (RPTs) involving listed companies? Can we afford to be more relaxed about the possibility of those controlling a company coming up with deals that hurt the interests of other shareholders?
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) once called abusive RPTs as “one of the biggest corporate governance challenges facing the Asian business landscape”. That was in a September 2009 report. Could it be that things are different now?
