‘Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here’[1] — John J Ray III

The recent failure of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange highlights the need for investors and market participants to do their due diligence when it comes to corporate governance. Assumptions around the competency of individual directors and the corporate governance standards in various jurisdictions left some FTX investors writing off hundreds of millions of dollars invested in FTX.

The NSW Supreme Court recently handed down its decision in Re HIH Insurance Limited (In Liq)^[1]. This long-running saga began with the collapse 15 years ago of Australia’s (then) second largest insurance company, HIH Insurance Limited, and has since seen a royal commission, the imprisonment of various senior management figures, and losses totalling more than $5 billion.