Kaplan Business School MBA402: ANZ Code of Conduct - Discrimination

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Code of Conduct for the Australian and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ). The code addresses crucial aspects of ethical business practices, including discrimination, exploitation, corruption, dishonest and fraudulent behavior, and whistleblower protections. It outlines specific guidelines and policies to ensure compliance with relevant laws and regulations, such as the Fair Work Act 2009 and the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). The report emphasizes the importance of creating a respectful and professional workplace, with clear definitions and examples of prohibited behaviors. It also details the organization's commitment to preventing corruption and fraudulent activities, including bribery and money laundering, with a zero-tolerance policy. Furthermore, the code establishes a framework for whistleblowers, ensuring their safety and security when reporting unethical or illegal activities. The report includes the enforcement mechanisms and the importance of maintaining the highest standards of professionalism and integrity across all levels of the organization. The assignment is designed to address the current governance issues and provide a comprehensive guide for ethical conduct within the ANZ organization. The code of conduct also incorporates the importance of maintaining the necessary account books, vouchers, documents, and records as required by the various statutes, along with KYC guidelines and media communication protocols.

20 December 2018
CODE OF CONDUCT
The Australian and New Zealand Banking Limited
(ANZ)

CODE OF CONDUCT 1
Introduction
The aim of the following code of conduct is to ensure that the business operations of the
organisation, the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) are conducted in
accordance with the professional, ethical, and the applicable regulatory standards. Thus, the
code of conduct is designed taking into consideration the various acts and guidelines such as
the Australian Accounting Standards, pronouncements of the Australian Stock Exchange,
compliances of the Corporations Act, 2001 (Cth) and incidental acts, industry regulations and
others. The following code of conduct will shed light on the policies with respect to the
workplace practices, dress code guidelines, anti-money laundering practices, and such. Thus,
the code is a guide to deal with the business dilemmas that scars the reputation of entity.
Applicability and Coverage of the Code of Conduct
All the members of the organisation including the directors, employees, and others, who are a
part of the organisations, must adhere to the following code of conduct. The code of conduct
does not covers each matter that may arise, but is aimed at setting forth the guidelines that
represent the overall policies and ethics of the entity. In addition, it is to state that the code is
dynamic and would be subject to review and change at periodical basis, as per the changes in
the laws and regulations.
Discrimination
The entity ANZ is committed towards the prohibition of the any form of the discriminatory
activity, harassment, or intimidation of the employees at the organisation. The entity lays
down the following comprehensive guidelines with respect to the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth).
These are in addition to the federal and the state anti-discrimination laws. Together these
guidelines are formulated to develop a framework of mutual respect, dignity, integrity, and
professionalism at the workplace of ANZ.
The discrimination at workplace can be based on various cultural, physical, economic, and
national attributes (Zgheib, 2014). The Equal Opportunity Act 2010 has prescribed a number
of personal characteristics, because of which the discrimination can be initiated intentionally
or unintentionally at the workplace (Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights
Commission, 2018a). These personal characteristics are origin, race, nationality, sex, age,
marital status, colour, physical features, industrial activity, employment activity, political

CODE OF CONDUCT 2
belief, religious belief, parental status, disability, and others (Victorian Equal Opportunity
and Human Rights Commission, 2018b). Thus, the discrimination at workplace would refers
to the favourable or unfavourable treatment based on the characteristics protected by law, as
listed above (Gaze and Smith, 2016).
Some of the examples of the discriminatory practices at the workplaces are listed as follows.
An employee being dismissed from the job because of ill health, initiating promotions based
on the gender (Booth and Leigh, 2010); supervisor, or co-worker treating the other unfairly
based on the religious beliefs, age and other attributes (Roberts, Davies and Jupp, 2014);
offering of unfair terms and conditions during the hiring or the recruitment process, and many
more.
It is the duty of the every leader, manager and the employees as well, to create a healthy work
environment that would be built on the pillars of mutual respect, cooperation, tolerance, and
understanding towards each other. Thus, it is significant to ensure that the workplace
relationships are free from personal bias, the failure of which would result in the penalties as
described in the later parts of the code.
Exploitation
The entity understands its responsibility to prevent any form of exploitation arising out of the
bullying or harassment at the workplace. There have been constituted various acts such as
Sex Discrimination Act 1984, Disability Discrimination Act 1992, Racial Discrimination Act
1975 and others that regulate the provisions of various kinds of harassment. The organisation
is committed to abide by the guidelines stated therein.
Examples of the harassment behaviour are such as telling insulting jokes, sharing explicit or
sexually suggestive messages or mails, asking intrusive questions about personal life, passing
of derogatory comments about a person’s disability or physical appearance and many more
(Australian Human Rights Commission, 2018).
As per the Fair Work Amendment Act, 2013, bullying refers to the unreasonable behaviour
that is being consistent towards an individual, which poses a risk of health and safety for the
employee (Australian Government, 2018). Thus, the bulling behaviour include the various
forms of abuse, i.e. the physical, verbal and even psychological.
Examples of the bulling behaviour at workplace are use of the offensive language, yelling or
screaming, excluding or isolating the employees, making changes to the work roster that

CODE OF CONDUCT 3
purposefully results into inconvenience for some employees (Appelbaum, Semerjian and
Mohan, 2012). This also includes assigning tasks that are out of the capacity of the
employees, or withholding information that is critical for the performance of a task.
Thus, the code of conduct requires the employees, leaders and managers to be aware of their
language, and behaviour all the time, while associated with the entity. The members of the
organisation are required to abide by the ethical and moral principles of the entity, the failure
of which would lead to the disciplinary actions.
Corruption
The entity recognises bribery and corruption as against the integrity, ethics and the overall
goals and objectives of the enterprise. The entity accords the belief as stated in the ASX 200
that the above-mentioned issues adversely affect the strength and success of an enterprise,
and creates hurdle in the long-term growth and stability of business. Accordingly, the code
would shed light on the meaning of the terms and the example of activities included therein.
According to the Corruption and Crime Commission, corrupt conduct refers to an improper
purpose involving deliberate intention towards the failure to perform the functions of the
office, improper use of the exercise or the power, and dishonesty (CCC, 2018).
The term bribe means an act that involves influencing the actions or decisions of a person in
order to avail a certain advantage in the business transaction, which is otherwise not available
(Vickers, 2014). Thus, the person concerned is induced by anything of a value in monetary
terms and is offered, accepted, promised to pay the same directly or indirectly to earn the
advantage (Zgheib, 2014).
The entity ANZ is committed on working towards corruption and bribery and thus adopts a
zero tolerance policy for any such acts on part of members or employees of the organisation.
These activities can take various forms, for instance few activities are stealing of information
or data of the enterprise, falsification, or embezzlement of money, acts of bribery, deliberate
concealment of the information in the systems, destruction of the physical documents and
other such acts. The above list is not exhaustive and would include any activity that involve
loss of information or property of enterprise directly or indirectly.
Thus, it is the duty of the employees and the members of the organisation to not to accept the
monetary benefits, gifts, or any other kind of the incentives or entertainment, other than the
remuneration unless the same falls in the framework of the rules of entity. The employees are

CODE OF CONDUCT 4
suggested to not to accept the above from the suppliers, customers or any other stakeholders
in order to do such acts that do not fall within the preview of their official duties. It is
suggested to consult such a circumstance with the immediate senior management. It is further
suggested to inform the entity about the people or organisation that are suspected to be
involved in these acts directly or indirectly. In addition, the organisation in serious about the
compliance with the anti money laundering laws and regulations and therefore, it is suggested
to be aware of the transactions or the persons, who are engaged in activities the proceeds of
which are to be invested in the activities of criminal or illegal nature.
Dishonest and Fraudulent Behaviour
Another serious concern towards which the entity has a zero tolerance policy is the dishonest
and fraudulent behaviour. This can occur at various hierarchal levels, from top to bottom. The
dishonest or the fraudulent behaviour means prioritizing personal interest over the
organisational interests (Cubbage and Brooks, 2016). Few of the instances, in which the same
can occur are the entering into a business agreement or transaction that is detrimental to
interest and the policy of the organisation, passing on the confidential information to the
competitors or others that has been acquired during the duties of the enterprise (Loudon,
McPhail and Wilkinson, 2015). It also includes the entering into simultaneous other
professional engagements outside ANZ, using the property or facility of the entity for own
benefits, and accepting gifts of the amount and nature that are not permitted.
The employees and members are required to maintain the highest standards of
professionalism and integrity while performing the functions of the part of the organisation.
Whistle-blower Protections
Any employee or member who wishes to report to the organisation in relation to the activities
or the fraud of illegal or unethical nature is welcomed, and is referred to as the whistle blower
(Brown et. al, 2014). The reporting may be done in relation to any of the matter described in
the previous parts, that is the activities involving sexual harassment, dishonest or fraudulent
behaviour, unlawful discrimination and bullying, or corruption or bribery.
The entity is committed towards safety and security to such whistle-blowers and considers
the whistle-blowers protection its prime responsibility. The reporting should be done as per
the following laid down framework.

CODE OF CONDUCT 5
Whistle-blower Protection Officer (WPO): The entity has employed a WTO who would be
committed to conduct the consultations with the financial, legal, and operational experts in
order to primarily protect the interests of the whistle-blowers. In addition, it is the duty to
comply the various provisions of the code of conduct and other organisational guidelines.
Whistle-blower Investigations Officer (WIO): The entity has further engaged a WIO
whose prime responsibility is to consider the reports received from the whistle-blowers and
conduct the preliminary investigations into the matters concerned. Thus, the duty would
include conducting enquiry or conversations within or outside the entity, collection of
evidences or calling third party information’s, which will either support the claims of the
whistle-blowers or regard it baseless, and not conduct further investigation after that.
Manner of reporting for the whistle-blowers: The whistle-blowers can either report to the
immediate senior managers or choose to report it anonymously by dropping a mail or call or
post at the contact details mentioned in the appendix of the code of the conduct. It is the duty
of the senior managers to provide the support to the employees coming out with such a
report.
Other activities
Few other activities that are essential part of the code of conduct and the members and
employees must not engage in the same. These are protection of the confidential information
with respect to the employees, extending support and coordination with the regulators of the
industry; and not to engage in activities like the insider trading. Insider trading can occur
while having access to the non-public information that is material (Reamer, 2013). The basic
general dress code and use of information systems guidelines must be followed, along with
non-engagement in alcoholism, littering, smoking, and abusing. It further involves
compliance maintenance of the necessary account books, vouchers, documents, and records
as required by the various statutes. In addition, the KYC guidelines must be followed. Further
to note, media communications must be made only by the authorised representatives in this
behalf and employees and members are suggested to not to engage in making unnecessary
public statements.

CODE OF CONDUCT 6
Enforcement
It is the duty of the employees and managers to affirm to the code of conduct. It is mandatory
to comply with the code of conduct on a consistent basis and the management would is free
to take actions in event of breach of the guidelines. The actions may be in the form of the
penalties, warning, trial, demotion, withholding of promotion, or termination of the services,
depending upon the gravity of the offence and the situation.

CODE OF CONDUCT 7
References
Appelbaum, S. H., Semerjian, G. and Mohan, K. (2012) Workplace bullying: consequences,
causes and controls (part two). Industrial and Commercial Training, 44(6), pp. 337-344.
Australian Government (2018) Fair Work Amendment Act 2013. [online] Available from:
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2013A00073 [Accessed on 20 December 2018].
Australian Human Rights Commission (2018) Workplace discrimination, harassment and
bullying. [online] Available from: https://www.humanrights.gov.au/employers/good-practice-
good-business-factsheets/workplace-discrimination-harassment-and-bullying [Accessed on
20 December 2018].
Booth, A. and Leigh, A. (2010) Do employers discriminate by gender? A field experiment in
female-dominated occupations. Economics Letters, 107(2), pp. 236-238.
Brown, A. J., Lewis, D., Moberly, R. and Vandekerckhove, W. eds., (2014) International
handbook on whistleblowing research. UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Corruption and Crime Commission (2018) What is Corruption? [online] Available from:
https://www.ccc.wa.gov.au/what-is-corruption [Accessed on 28 December 2018].
Cubbage, C. J., and Brooks, D. J. (2016) Corporate Security in the Asia-Pacific Region:
Crisis, Crime, Fraud, and Misconduct. United States: CRC Press.
Gaze, B., and Smith, B. (2016) Equality and Discrimination Law in Australia: An
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Loudon, R., McPhail, R. and Wilkinson, A. (2015) Introduction to Employment Relations.
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Reamer, F. G. (2013) Social work values and ethics. United States: Columbia University
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Roberts, C., Davies, E. and Jupp, T. (2014) Language and discrimination. UK: Routledge.

CODE OF CONDUCT 8
Vickers, M. H. (2014) Towards reducing the harm: Workplace bullying as workplace
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Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission. (2018a) Discrimination –
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workplace/workplace-discrimination [Accessed on 20 December 2018].
Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission. (2018b) Types of
discrimination [online] Available from:
https://www.humanrightscommission.vic.gov.au/discrimination/discrimination/types-of-
discrimination [Accessed on 20 December 2018].
Zgheib, P. W. ed., (2014) Business ethics and diversity in the modern workplace. United
States: IGI Global.