Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Spain Has Bull and Bare Markets

Who comes up with this stuff ? Bill Clinton would have to hire an accountant just to keep track.

Spanish business leaders are being told they have to declare any illicit love affairs - to the stockmarket.

In an attempt to crack down on insider trading, the directors of companies quoted on Spain's stock exchange will have to come clean twice a year about anyone with whom they are having an "affectionate relationship".

Legislation will be brought in by the regulatory body, the ComisiĆ³n Nacional del Mercado de Valores, in July to try to clean up the image of Spanish business practices, The Scotsman reports.

Company directors must also provide information about their wives or husbands and family, but it is the idea of a "lovers register" - in which bosses might have to admit to having affairs or out themselves as gay - that has sparked reactions ranging from disbelief to fury among business people.

Ricard Fornesa, the president of the huge La Caixa savings bank, described the proposed legislation as laughable.

A spokesman for another leading Spanish financial house, who would not be named, was outraged, saying: "If I had a lover, which I don't, would they expect me to admit it?

From The Sydney Morning Herald.

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