In financial services, we don't trust

ONE of the most alarming findings of our global survey on the impact of the coronavirus on the capital markets - and there were many - was the threat the coronavirus posed for ethical lapses in the investment management industry. Globally, 45 per cent of those surveyed felt financial hardships in the financial industry will result in unethical actions on the part of its professionals was likely or very likely. There were some regional differences, with the fear highest in North America, and the lowest in Latin America.

Unfortunately, this should come as no surprise. The financial services industry has put on an endless parade of scandals that have to lead to distrust of its institutions and practitioners. Taxpayer-funded bailouts, Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, bogus credit ratings, Libor rate-rigging, money laundering, racial discrimination, the unauthorised sale of products, among many, many other missteps, are milestones of an ugly past.

With the Great Financial Crisis nearly a decade gone, things seemed to be settling down. But controversy has risen once again, this time whether financial services firms are receiving and meting out preferential treatment under the new Covid support programmes. At the moment, this looks bad, but as time goes on, this transgression will simply take its place in the long line of missteps, soon to be joined by other ethical lapses.