3. Culture and Organizational Size

Is it more difficult to instill a common ethical culture in a larger organization? The question is posed and evidence is gathered to highlight the increased concentration and size of large, complex financial firms and their influence across certain markets and businesses. As these financial giants have grown ever larger, the distance from the customer has grown, leading to a “transactional” business model, in which the client is now a counterparty. Bigness has also bred “silos” within these organizations which are run almost autonomously, with their own habits, norms, and allegiances. All of this makes conduct and cultural reform more difficult, raising questions for regulators, who see the bigness problem as one that might require future intervention.