While The American College has promoted ethical behavior in the financial services industry for more than 82 years, we believe the time is right for a dramatic expansion of our efforts in this vital area.
Today's headlines are filled with corporate scandals, including insider trading, theft, backdating of stock options, and questionable financial reporting to boost stock prices. In the financial services industry, we read about inappropriate annuity sales to the elderly, conflicts of interest on Wall Street, unethical mortgage lending practices, and misuse of contingent commissions.
Our experience is that most financial services executives and producers behave ethically most of the time. And they need to. Consumers do not buy from companies and salespeople they do not trust. Even more than most industries, the financial services industry is built on trust. We sell "promises"--intangible products that customers rely on to deliver benefits to them many years in the future. If financial services firms and their intermediaries lose the trust of consumers, our industry will cease to exist, and millions of consumers will be worse off for it.
The Center for Ethics in Financial Services at The American College is uniquely qualified to take the lead in helping the industry develop and apply effective ethical practices. Only the Center for Ethics has the combination of rigorous academic knowledge of ethics, understanding of actual practices in the marketplace, and objectivity in articulating the ethical dimensions of the issues. In order to take the leadership role that the financial services industry needs us to play, the Center for Ethics needs to expand its efforts now.
The Center is uniquely qualified to serve as a resource for cutting-edge research and discussion of emerging ethical issues in the financial services industry. We will utilize our expertise in ethical theory and our knowledge of practices in the financial services industry to investigate, understand, and articulate the ethical ramifications of these issues. We will be invited to be "at the table" when executives, producers, and regulators hammer out public policy positions. Because the Center has no vested interest, it can be objective in helping executives, producers, and regulators take account of the ethical implications of public policy positions.
The Center will also promote ethical behavior by offering an array of educational programs that go beyond the "rules" of market conduct to help executives and producers be more sensitive to ethical issues and think more critically about ethical solutions to issues. The Center's interactive continuing education courses, forums, and workshops help practitioners think critically and behave ethically, even in the most problematic and challenging situations.
The American College
Center for Ethics in Financial Services
270 S. Bryn Mawr Avenue
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010
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