Case Study: Deutsche Bank Money Laundering Scheme
April 27th, 2017
By: Michelle Chan
The Deutsche Bank Money Laundering Scandal
After Russia’s incursion into Crimea, sanctions by ...
Our Mission: To highlight and analyze issues of moral philosophy in global financial markets with a view to enhancing ethical practice and policy.
Recent Posts
Moral Cents: Winter/Spring 2017 Issue
April 13th, 2017
Dr. Kara Tan Bhala
This issue of Moral Cents: Winter/Spring 2017 presents just two articles with the ...
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Books
International Investment Management
Read the new and original book lead authored by Seven Pillars Institute's President, Dr. Kara Tan Bhala. The book synthesizes three theories of finance and gives a lucid explanation of ethics and its real world application in investment management.
The Business of Ethics
Dr. Kara Tan Bhala, President of Seven Pillars Institute, contributed a chapter to this handy, engaging and readily accessible volume. Contributors to the book span the academy, financial services and industry. They include Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank and originator of social business and microcredit, Charles Hamden-Turner the creator of Dilemma Theory and Emmanuel Lulin, Chief Ethics Officer of L’Oreal.
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The Prospect Think Tank Awards 2016 shortlisted and cited the research of Seven Pillars Institute (SPI) on climate change mitigation, praising its “deft work on eco-tourism”. The Awards are an annual recognition of the influential work carried out by think tanks across the globe. Read More.
Case Study: Iceland’s Banking Crisis
By: Anh Nguyen
Introduction
Iceland’s financial collapse in 2008 was the biggest any country had ever suffered relative to its size. At the time of the crisis, total assets of its three largest banks were 10 times the nation’s GDP and 20 times the state budget (“How did Iceland clean up its banks?”). The underlying causes of the downfall lie in reckless behaviors, lack of transparency and greed. However, unlike the US, by February 2016, Iceland had sentenced 29 bankers to prison for their role in the crash.
The Players
Glitnir Bank
The
...Tags: 2008 financial crisis, Banking Culture, Case studies
Posted in Case Studies
Impact Investments: Good Profits?
By: Genevieve Crawford
Investors with high ethical standards can be constrained by the corporation’s duty to maximize shareholder profit. Pure nonprofits may disappoint with their low returns. A new way of doing good and making money is called impact investing.
Impact investments provides funding opportunities for both social and financial returns. The main advantage of impact investments is its ability to capitalize on governments’ and charities’ lack of monetary resources. As a financial method, it has tremendous potential to solve pressing world issues. Impact investing is
...Tags: corporate social responsibility, impact investing, social impact bonds
Posted in Case Studies
When Businessmen Rule the State
By: Kara Tan Bhala
Striking parallels between two billionaire businessmen heads of state, now exiled Thaksin Shinawatra and Donald Trump.
Part 3 of SPI’s Trump Financial Ethics Watch Series
“If you monitor what Donald Trump is saying, he’s bluffing, the man. That’s really the culture of a businessman.” While there is “some similarity” between
Thaksin Shinawatra, Financial Times
Thaksin Shinawatra: Billionaire Businessman Turned Politician
Thaksin Shinawatra was elected as prime minister of Thailand in 2001. He was a businessman billionaire who made his vast fortune in telecoms. Espousing populist views, he cynically seized political advantage
...Tags: Conflicts of Interest, Donald Trump, Financial ethics watch
Posted in Case Studies, Essays
International Investment Management: Theory, Ethics and Practice
Read the new and original book lead authored by Seven Pillars Institute’s President, Dr. Kara Tan Bhala. The book uniquely synthesizes three theories of finance and gives a lucid explanation of ethics and its real world application in investment management.
Moral Cents
Moral Cents is The Journal of Ethics in Finance, produced on a regular basis by the Seven Pillars Institute for Global Finance and Ethics. See the latest issues and read them in full.
Seven Pillars Institute for Global Finance and Ethics (SPI) and the Centre for Commercial Law Studies (CCLS) at Queen Mary University of London have a collaborative affiliation in their work on ethics, law, and regulation in finance. The goal of the collaboration is to foster a dialogue on important ethical policy issues affecting the financial services industry.