Ethics in Financial Institutions

I will begin with a premise on which my subsequent reflections are based; that the management and administration of a financial institution is essentially an ethical task, whether one likes it or not. The premise is correct in its strictest sense; it would not be so, of course, in the ordinary sense when “ethical”, meaning good or correct, is regarded as being the opposite of unethical, meaning bad or incorrect. In the ordinary sense, the management of a financial institution is not necessarily ethical; it can obviously be unethical.