Financial advisers need a single ethical framework which cuts across the whole sector, according to the board of the Banking and Finance Oath (BFO).
The BFO was formed to encourage and support strong ethics in the banking and finance industry. One of the core tenets adopted by signatories of the oath is that they ‘speak out against wrongdoing and support others who do the same’.
In light of recent inquiries into the education and professional standards within financial advice, the BFO board has called for the adoption of a common ethical framework to inform the conduct of financial advisers.
The BFO said it strongly encourages the open discussion of ethics as an important way to draw early attention to unethical behaviour within the banking and finance industry. It argued that the quality of Australian financial advice would be assured by a complementary blend of ethics and regulation.
BFO Director and Executive Director of The Ethics Centre, Dr Simon Longstaff, said while it was appropriate that there be competition around formal qualifications and core competency levels, this should not apply to ethics.
He said the broader society had a reasonable right to expect one ethical standard that is common to all.
BFO Director and CEO of ANZ Australia, Phil Chronican, added: “While many people focus on the legislative and regulatory regime as the principal means to ensure the quality and character of financial advice, we believe something more needs to be done, which is why we support the need for a voluntary ethical framework to ensure the industry’s long-term viability.
“Beyond compliance, the BFO’s mission is to develop a strong ethical foundation – a support network that exists to encourage ethical accountability of the highest quality, and thus give the community good reason to look beyond the tainted image that tends to define the banking and finance industry as a result of poor behaviour by relatively few.”
Ethics in business is probably not an area in which banks have a great deal of credibility if the NAB and CBA experiences are anything to go by.
The word ‘oxymoron’ springs to mind a bit here. Ethics and common decency are things taught at home to their children by caring parents. By the time a person gets to the age where he or she can be in business for themselves, or employed by banks in a similar capacity, either they’re ethical or they’re not. No amount of government-imposed education programmes will alter that. Hmmm.
Well said Paul,
Ethics is instilled by out parents and peers at a young age and cemented for our future.
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