If we’re looking for ways the global banks can rise to the ethical challenge highlighted by the leaked files from banking giant HSBC, we could do worse than look at one of the few institutions to emerge from the financial crisis with any credit.
Smaller players, such as Triodos, actually flourished during the recession by essentially offering an alternative foundation for banking, located in the very values that many bigger banks claim, in their rhetoric, to aspire to.
Part of HSBC’s defense this week has been to argue that it has now “put compliance and tax transparency ahead of profitability.”
Just 23 percent of Americans said bankers had high or very high ethical standards.
