PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 3, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Financial industry professionals can demonstrate their commitment to ethical behavior by pledging on the RMA website to live by The Risk Management Association’s Principles of Ethical Conduct.
The Risk Management Association is known for setting important standards in the financial industry, and for assisting institutions and practitioners as they strive to help people and businesses achieve their goals in a manner that is beneficial for all stakeholders. By making the RMA Ethics Pledge, professionals demonstrate to their customers and their institutions that they are part of the solution—and help to improve the reputation of an essential industry.
To make your pledge, simply visit this web page, read the Principles, and click to register your intention to honor them. The pledge is a voluntary statement of intent to act ethically and responsibly and would not conflict with any institution’s code of ethics or conduct. In fact, the RMA Principles can be a resource for organizations intending to create a new code or supplement an existing one, and practitioners who demonstrate their eagerness to live by the Principles reflect positively on their institutions and the industry.
“Negative headlines have plagued the financial services industry since the financial crisis of 2007-08,” said RMA President and CEO Nancy Foster. “Many of these headlines resulted from bad behavior by individuals on behalf of their employers—behavior that has had huge consequences not only for the potential victims, but also for the individuals and institutions involved. For our entire industry, in fact.”
The Principles are nine “rules of reason” intended to encourage honest conduct, fair dealing, proper handling of conflicts of interest, full disclosure and compliance, and the protection of institutions’ legitimate business interests. They include and elaborate on the following guidelines:
- Act with integrity.
- Report wrongdoing.
- Be dedicated to stakeholders.
- Avoid conflicts and the appearance of impropriety.
- Report information accurately.
- Maintain confidentiality.
- Compete fairly and honestly.
- Promote inclusion in the workplace.
- When in doubt, seek counsel.
“Ethics impact the bottom line. But there is also value to conducting business ethically for its own sake,” Foster said. “In this world, there is so little we can control. But we can control our own behavior, and take pride in it being a positive reflection on ourselves and our industry.”
The entire Principles document is available here.
About RMA
Founded in 1914, The Risk Management Association is a not-for-profit, member-driven professional association whose sole purpose is to advance the use of sound risk management principles in the financial services industry. RMA promotes an enterprise approach to risk management that focuses on credit risk, market risk and operational risk. Headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, RMA has 1,900 institutional members that include banks of all sizes as well as nonbank financial institutions. They are represented in the Association by 18,500 individuals located throughout North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia/Pacific.
SOURCE The Risk Management Association