The Age
 reports that if Telstra is forced to give open access to its high-speed fibre optic
cable and wireless networks after it’s privatised, it will think twice
about making major investments in those crucial areas, according to a
senior Telstra executive.

ASIC’s decision
to bring broking firm BBY to heel over its failure to maintain a
“Chinese Wall” between its corporate advice department and its
research department is a sign that the regulator is coming to grips
with real world problems raised by a single, new paragraph in the
Corporations Law, says Malcolm Maiden in the Smage. The amended Corporations Act to
require financial service licence holders to “have in place
adequate arrangements for the management of conflicts of interest
that may arise …” Not an easy task, in the capital markets particularly.
The uncomfortable fact is that modern investment banks are designed
to harness services that produce conflicts.

The Fin Review reports that Orica is reviewing the option of
selling its majority stake in fertiliser group Incitec Pivot, in a move
that could lead to a major shake-up of the $2 billion fertiliser
industry.

And blue-chip
companies have been seeking approval of remuneration policies from shareholder groups as
they face potentially embarrassing revolts in the first year of
non-binding votes on pay levels, reports The Australian.