Cross posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/17979914
The London Stock Exchange (LSE) has been asked what checks are in place to vet firms after fast-fashion retailer Shein refused to answer “basic questions” over its supply chain.
Liam Byrne, chair of the Business and Trade Committee, wrote to Dame Julia Hoggett asking if the stock market had tests in place to “authenticate statements” by firms seeking to list, “with particular regard to their safeguards against the use of forced labour in their products”.
It comes after MPs branded the evidence of a Shein lawyer “ridiculous” when she refused to say if the company sold products containing cotton from China.
Byrne told Dame Julia that MPs were “profoundly concerned at the lack of candid and open answers”.
“The committee would like to draw your attention to the concerning evidence we heard,” he said in a letter to the LSE chief executive on Friday.
The BBC understands Shein, founded in China but now headquartered in Singapore, has filed initial paperwork to list in the UK, which could value it at £50bn. It follows the retailers rapid rise to one of the biggest fast fashion firms globally, shipping to customers in 150 countries.
But questions remain over the company’s supply chain amid allegations of forced labour and human rights abuses.
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It will be interesting to see if the Chancellor returns back from her trip to China and whispers in the stock exhanche’s ear to allow the listing.
The LSE and its executives are kegally responsible for overseeing listed companies and ensuring compliance with laws prohibiting the trade of goods produced through forced labour. This includes fines and even prison sentence if they fail to do so.
I agree on paper. But we’ve seen many time before “legally responsible” isn’t really a deterrent for some people in society. If there’s money to be made, made it will be!
All I’m saying is that if they suddenly approve the listing after the chancellor returns despite the lack of transparency I will not be surprised in the slightest.
What is supposed to happen and what typically happens when money is involved are not the same thing.