The financial crisis and economic turmoil has split more or less all business sectors. There is a surprisingly considerable gap between the winners and losers.

It's a tricky issue to understand why and how the e.g. two banks Like Lehmann Bros and Goldmann Sachs which operate under the same rules, with similar business approaches, employees with the identical salaries, bonuses and education, operating in the identical communities can face such different fates.

There are similar comparisons for companies in Denmark, Scandinavia and elsewhere. We all know the ‘dogs’ and no need to mention them.

In reality there is only one explanation as to how smart management, board and management here has been to look into the future, interpreting trends, develop a clear strategies that include Good Governance, Risk Management and adherence to Compliance demands (GRC), and last but not the least The GRC issues are embedded in the organization and effectively communicated it to all of the employees.

We still see Governance, Risk and Compliance officers who are trying to enforce assessments, implement controls and ensure proper disclosures on the organizational outskirts, as a one man battle.

It is probably still too early to draw any critical conclusions on the financial crisis and evaluate it in a historical perspective. But the fact remains that there is a definite gap between winners and losers and several analysis and reports prove that GRC is one of the decisive factors for the winners.

This issue of the newsletter focuses on what you get out of attending the 5th Copenhagen Compliance Conference.