This press release is about an interesting-looking survey conducted by researchers at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business in conjunction with lawyers at Labaton Sucharow LLP. >>>
The survey, the most expansive of its kind, polled more than 1,200 U.S. and U.K.-based financial services professionals to examine views on workplace ethics, the nexus between principles and profits, the state of industry leadership and confidence in financial regulators. With findings pointing to a continued disregard for ethical engagement and alarming new tactics to silence potential whistleblowers, the industry appears to be faltering in its reform efforts…..
See also this piece, about the same survey:
Corporate Confidentiality Policies Prohibit Reporting of Illegal Conduct to Police. Essentially, many employees are subject to two different, competing, sets of rules, both of which have at least some legal force. Note also that in some cases legal requirements make it advantageous (or mandatory) for companies to come forward with information about violations, even if it would be better — from the point of view of minimizing problems in the future — if companies kept the problem in-house and dealt with it from a learning and error-avoidance perspective.
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I find the height of the presence of unethical practices in the financial industry to be astonishing. However, I think that with the increasing importance of ethical practices to the younger generations in society, and the increasing importance of implementing corporate social responsibility into the strategy of corporate firms, the presence of ethical practices will rise in the finance industry.