Ethical behavior in the financial industry
FIN-419 / 2 credits
Teacher: Nahas Aziz
Language: English
Remark: Special schedule: see the IF website https://go.epfl.ch/fe
Summary
We will focus on ethical dilemmas facing professionals in the financial industry. Cases based on real events will illustrate various kinds of transgressions. We will study what regulators and firms have put in place to mitigate these issues and propose some guiding principles for individuals.
Content
Most notorious examples of financial crime
Different kinds of organisations and functions within the financial industry
Role of the main regulators in the financial industry
Specific kinds of transgressions with real case studies
How to remain alert and avoid such transgressions
Keywords
financial fraud - financial crime- insider trading - tax evasion - market manipulation - market abuse - accounting fraud - money laundering - Maddoff - hedge funds - investment banking - cryptocurrency - hedge funds - private equity - embezzlement - ponzi scheme - pyramid scheme - tax havens - panama papers - cyber crime
Learning Prerequisites
Important concepts to start the course
Basic understanding of interest rates, equities and derivatives markets.
Basic understanding of macrofinance.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, the student must be able to:
- Justify why laws are insufficient in curbing most questionable behaviours
- Differentiate the main ethical transgressions
- Infer why this industry is prone to a large number of scandals
- Elaborate on a few recent real case studies illustrating these transgressions
- Interpret what regulators and organisations have put in place to prevent financial crimes
- Assess / Evaluate what in the culture of an organisation can lead to moral failures
- Produce a detailed analysis of at least one real case study
- Propose a set of rules that could have prevented the problem from happening
- Design a compliance framework for a specific type of activity that can minimise financial crime
Transversal skills
- Access and evaluate appropriate sources of information.
- Make an oral presentation.
- Demonstrate the capacity for critical thinking
Teaching methods
Lectures
Projects
Exercises
Expected student activities
Attendance at lectures
Work on a project
Oral presentation
Assessment methods
Exam: 50%
Project and presentation of the project: 50%
Resources
Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)
No
Bibliography
"No one would listen" by Harry Markopolos
"Black Edge" by Sheelah Kolhatkar
"The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
"Debt: The first 5000 years" by David Graeber.
"The Panama Papers" by F. Obermaier, B. Obermayer
"Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals" by Immanuel Kant
"Ethics" by Baruch Spinoza
Ressources en bibliothèque
- Black Edge / Kolkhatkar
- Ethics / Spinoza
- Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals / Kant
- Debt / Graeber
- The Big Short / Michael Lewis
- The Panama Papers / Obermaier
- No one would listen / Markopolos
Moodle Link
In the programs
- Semester: Fall
- Exam form: During the semester (winter session)
- Subject examined: Ethical behavior in the financial industry
- Lecture: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Type: mandatory
- Semester: Fall
- Exam form: During the semester (winter session)
- Subject examined: Ethical behavior in the financial industry
- Lecture: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Type: mandatory
Reference week
Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | |
8-9 | |||||
9-10 | ODY016 | ||||
10-11 | |||||
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21-22 |