New Accountability in Financial Services: Changing Individual Behaviour and Culture

ISBN-13: 9783030887179 / Angielski / Miękka / 2022 / 222 str.

Joe McGrath; Ciaran Walker

Opis

This book is a critical examination of recently introduced individual accountability regimes that apply to the financial services industry in the UK (SMCR) and Australia (BEAR and the forthcoming FAR), together with a forthcoming new individual accountability regime ( in particular, SEAR) in Ireland. It provides a framework for analysing whether these regimes will achieve behavioural change in the financial services industry. This book argues that, whilst sanctioning individuals to deter future misconduct is an important part of any successful regulatory strategy, the focus should be on ensuring that individuals in the financial services industry internalise the norms of behaviour expected under the new regimes. In this regard, the analysis in this book is informed by criminological theory, regulatory theory and behavioural science. The work also argues for a “trajectory towards professionalisation” of financial services, and banking in particular, as an important means of positively influencing industry-wide norms of behaviour, which have a key influence on firms’ and individuals’ behaviours.

Spis treści

CHAPTER 1: CHANGING INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOUR AND CULTURE – AN INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW 8

CONTRIBUTION TO EXISTING RESEARCH IN THIS AREA 14

THE STRUCTURE OF THIS MONOGRAPH 16

CHAPTER 2: ‘RESPONSIVELY’ REGULATING THE FINANCIAL SERVICES SECTOR: AN EVOLVING ARCHITECTURE 18

1. INTRODUCTION: THEORY AND PRACTICE 18

2. AN EVOLVING REGULATORY THEORY 19

3. IMPLEMENTATION IN PRACTICE: FROM “LIGHT TOUCH” TO INTRUSIVE REGULATION GENERATING CULTURAL CHANGE 29

4. CONCLUSION: ATROPHY OR THE POTENTIAL TO FLEX A NEW MUSCLE? 41

CHAPTER 3: THE SYSTEMIC PROBLEM OF UNETHICAL BEHAVIOURS IN FINANCIAL SERVICES 44

1. INTRODUCTION 44

2. THE SCALE OF UNETHICAL BEHAVIOURS IN THE FINANCIAL SERVICES SECTOR 45

3. CAUSAL FACTORS 50

4. CONCLUSION 61

CHAPTER 4: GENERATING CULTURES OF COMPLIANCE: THE LIMITS OF THE “BIG STICK” 62

1. INTRODUCTION 62

2. POLITICISATION: BANKERS AS THIEVES, CROOKS, AND TERRORISTS 63

3. WEAPONISING THE LAW 67

4. ACTING OUT, TOOLING UP, BUT SANCTIONS ARE NO SILVER BULLET 82

5. EARLY ATTEMPTS AT INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTABILITY: THE FIT AND PROPER TEST 84

6. THE PROBLEMS WITH PUNISHMENT 88

7. CONCLUSION 93

CHAPTER 5: THE NEW INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTABILITY REGIMES (IARS) 95

1. INTRODUCTION 95

2. OVERVIEW OF THE NEW IARS 96

3. ARE THE NEW IARS LIKELY TO SUCCEED IN IMPROVING BEHAVIOURS IN THE FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY? 111

4. CONCLUSION 125

CHAPTER 6: PROFESSIONALISING BANKING - A TRAJECTORY TOWARDS THE INTERNALISATION OF NORMS 127

1. INTRODUCTION 127

2. WHAT IS A PROFESSION? 129

3. A “TRAJECTORY TOWARDS PROFESSIONALISATION” 134

4. PROPELLING BANKING FURTHER ALONG THE TRAJECTORY TO PROFESSIONALISATION 143

5. CONCLUSION 153

CHAPTER 7: NEW ACCOUNTABILITY IN FINANCIAL SERVICES – CONCLUDING THOUGHTS 157

 

Index

O autorze

Joe McGrath is Irish Research Council Scholar, a Fulbright Scholar, an Assistant Professor at the Sutherland School of Law, and the Vice Principal for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion of the College of Social Sciences and Law, University College Dublin, Ireland. He has published in the leading international, peer-reviewed journals in his fields.

Ciaran Walker is Consultant in the Financial Services Regulation & Governance group at the Dublin office of the global law firm Eversheds Sutherland, Ireland. He also lectures and has published in leading international journals in his fields. Prior to joining Eversheds Sutherland, he was Deputy Head of Enforcement at the Central Bank of Ireland.

Blurb

This book is a critical examination of recently introduced individual accountability regimes that apply to the financial services industry in the UK (SMCR) and Australia (BEAR and the forthcoming FAR), together with a forthcoming new individual accountability regime (in particular, SEAR) in Ireland. It provides a framework for analysing whether these regimes will achieve behavioural change in the financial services industry. This book argues that, whilst sanctioning individuals to deter future misconduct is an important part of any successful regulatory strategy, the focus should be on ensuring that individuals in the financial services industry internalise the norms of behaviour expected under the new regimes. In this regard, the analysis in this book is informed by criminological theory, regulatory theory and behavioural science. The work also argues for a “trajectory towards professionalisation” of financial services, and banking in particular, as an important means of positively influencing industry-wide norms of behaviour, which have a key influence on firms’ and individuals’ behaviours.

Joe McGrath is Irish Research Council Scholar, a Fulbright Scholar, an Assistant Professor at the Sutherland School of Law, and the Vice Principal for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion of the College of Social Sciences and Law, University College Dublin, Ireland. He has published in the leading international, peer-reviewed journals in his fields.

Ciaran Walker is Consultant in the Financial Services Regulation & Governance group at the Dublin office of the global law firm Eversheds Sutherland, Ireland. He also lectures and has published in leading international journals in his fields. Prior to joining Eversheds Sutherland, he was Deputy Head of Enforcement at the Central Bank of Ireland.