A research company set up by the federal government of Australia has slammed Australian-listed Crown Resorts, calling into question its corporate governance and risk management capabilities.
The report from Regnan, a company set up by Australian government owned superannuation and investment giant BT, was reportedly published earlier in November and more recently obtained by News Corp Australia.
According to The Advertiser, the report called into question the capabilities of the casino operator’s board of directors, corporate governance and risk management, saying that Crown’s board “lacks operational experience in gaming and in Asia.”
“Regnan maintains concerns over the absence of a lead independent director, lack of specific industry skills among independent directors and over commitment issues for some directors which could reduce director capacity to effectively discharge their duties”.
The operator suffered a slump in share price after the arrest of 18 employees, including their vice president of VIP Jason O’Connor last month.
“The arrests raise the question about the extent to which (Crown’s) China-based staff — who were incentivized through a commission based system — operated illegally to lure lucrative high-rollers,” the Regnan report said.
“Regnan notes that both independent members of the Risk Management Committee do not have deep operational experience in Asia, potentially reducing effectiveness of oversight,” it added.
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