“SINCE we have not more power of knowing the future than any other men, we have made many mistakes (who has not during the past five years?), but our mistakes have been errors of judgment and not of principle.” So reflected J.P. Morgan junior in 1933, in the middle of a financial crisis. Today’s bankers can draw no such comfort from their behaviour. –The Economist Magazine, 2012
HSBC Executives take an oath before testifying in a U.S. Senate hearing
http://www.economist.com/node/21559349
It was a cruel summer for business ethics. HSBC was found banking drug lords and terrorists, and traders in London casually rigged interbank borrowing rates, to name just a few cringe-worthy missteps in the past months.
This comes at the tail end of a financial crisis that was wrought with examples of corruption, unethical management practices and insider trading. These practices came at the expense of jobs, and at times honest people.
When there’s large sums of money involved, some find it harder to differentiate between right and wrong. Unfortunately, this has badly hurt society’s perception of the profession and even those studying it.
The Occupy movement demonstrated the discontent with Commerce
http://abcnews.go.com/US/occupy-wall-street-anniversary-protests-dwarfed-police-presence/story?id=17249773#.UHGnSBgYL-k
I think this is why David Silver’s insight into business ethics struck a real chord with me. How business is done needs to be rethought to ensure ethics are considered in decision-making, but where should this pressure come from?
Although people must make principled decisions without pressure, it’s unrealistic to rely solely on this. Governments should limit possibilities for wrongdoing, executives need to implement checks to cut temptation, and b-schools must teach business applications of common values.
Even with changes, making commerce fair and rebuilding its battered image will take lots of good old-fashioned personal integrity.
Spark: The Rotten Heart of Finance and Professor David Silver‘s lecture on business ethics.
Thank you Emily for your thoughtful response!