Integrity and Ethics in Financial Services

Integrity | Ethics | Morality | Professionalism | Legal | Workplace | Operations

Ethics deals with how people conduct good business. A person of integrity makes the right decisions in his professional duties.

Ethical behavior can hardly be regulated as it is difficult to specify the required behavior in all the possible dilemmas that can confront an individual every day in the cause of business transactions. Therefore, the choice of action by an individual in a particular business scenario is discretionary.

Ethical dilemma may involve choosing the best of possible actions. This is not always an easy choice. Hence the need for thorough exposure to the dynamics and practical realities of ethics and professional standards in today’s environment.

In Nigeria, Ethics and professional standards have become so emphasized since after the Capital market crash. The financial market meltdown led to some profes­sionals in the Financial Services Industry being involved in unethical behavior which resulted in the reduction of public confidence on Operators in the market.

The significance of this training, which is anchored by CISI, UK, is shown in the mantra: ‘the only thing between a company (or an individual) and oblivion is her integrity.’