On Wall Street, “Culture Of Integrity Has Failed To Take Hold”

We write a lot about financial regulation, whether it’s working and what unintended consequences it might be having, but in a perfect world people on Wall Street would behave responsibly and ethically without having someone looking over their shoulder. Not only is that unsurprisingly not the case, but attitudes may actually be getting worse.

“Nearly seven years after the global financial crisis rocked investors’ confidence in the markets and financial services in general, our survey clearly shows that a culture of integrity has failed to take hold. Numerous individuals continue to believe that engaging in illegal or unethical activity is part and parcel of succeeding in this highly competitive field,” write University of Notre Dame professor Ann Tenbrunsel and Labaton...