"Increasing the private cost of bad behaviour is the key to reducing its incidence," Rod Sims, chair of the ACCC said on Friday. In a speech framed in part by the work of the Hayne royal commission and recent allegations of cartel conduct aimed at local and foreign banks, Sim mused that "in order to encourage companies to think more about the negative consequences of the incentive structures they create, we must do more to internalise those consequences. "The key to reducing the incidence of bad behaviour is to increase the private cost to companies of engaging in those behaviours," he said, noting that parliament is debating plans too lift the top level of fines by as much as 20 times. Sims praised measures, officially or via activists, to "identify and shine a light on bad behaviour. "Many businesses make significant investments in their brand reputation. A strong brand reputation is a signal to customers than the firm can be trusted to do what it promises to do. "Bad behaviour by a company can undermine its brand reputation. The greater the likelihood that bad behaviour will be exposed and made public, the more companies will do to guard against such behaviours. "A key value of the Royal Commission has been to expose the poor behaviour of financial institutions to public scrutiny. The evidence about the conduct of AMP was particularly damning. The resulting damage to AMP's brand reputation has been substantial." Sims pointed out that "recently, a number of current and former bankers have in effect said their firms engage in behaviour they know to be inappropriate because they would lose out to their competitors if they did not. I find such an approach, both by bankers and electricity retailers, appalling."