...role that ethics and social responsibility play in developing a strategic plan as well as running a company in general is vast. In my opinion stakeholder needs and agendas while they may conflict with what is ethical or socially acceptable it is also something that the stakeholders want to see, a company that is ethical and socially responsible. I chose the financial industry to provide an example on for a time when ethics was questioned. While researching the financial industry, Wells Fargo stood out as one strong player in the industry. Wells Fargo is a nationwide, diversified financial services company with $1.6 trillion in assets. Founded in 1852, Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance. They do business with one in three U.S. households. Clearly Wells Fargo is a top player in the financial industry and they have had both ups and downs in the questioning of their ethics. Ethical issues in the financial services industry affect everyone, because even if you don’t work in the field, you’re a consumer of the services. The public seems to have the perception that the financial services sector is more unethical than other areas of business, this misperception persists for several reasons. First, the industry itself is quite large. It encompasses banks, securities firms, insurance companies, mutual fund organizations, investment banks, and mortgage lenders. Because of its vast size, the industry tends to garner lots...
Words: 913 - Pages: 4
...Waste at Wells Fargo Waste at Wells Fargo Introduction: Headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo, a diversified financial services company, is one of the few American companies that are still operating under its founding name as well as in its original business for longer than 150 years. It has always strived to help its customer achieve financial success by provides banking, insurance, and mortgage finance, just to name a few. In addition, it has always contributed to communities across the North America and internationally. We intend to demonstrate how Wells Fargo is promoting waste with its current policies and have mapped out a plan to get them back on track and more profitable. History: The company's history goes back to 1852, when Henry Wells and William Fargo created Wells, Fargo & Company in New York City during the West’s gold rush. They provided banking and express services to Golf Rush pioneers. Banking services included buying gold, and selling paper bank drafts. Express services, on the other hand, consisted of the rapid delivery of gold, mail and valuables from1852 to 1918. Wells Fargo used back then stagecoaches, steamships, the Pony Express, and railroads to deliver customers’ business. In 1860s, the firm earned a reputation for trustworthiness by dealing rapidly and responsibly with customers’ money. It earned everlasting fame with the overland stagecoach line by meeting the demand for rapid delivery, from the coast to the mountains; Stagecoaches...
Words: 4562 - Pages: 19
...UNETHICAL CONDUCT For the topic of exploring the ethical conduct in the world of business, we are encouraged to discuss a legal case that includes with it the court proceedings and the punishment that was dished out. For the sake of intrigue, I chose a case in which a very controversial punishment was given by federal prosecutors. In the wake of the 20 year surge in white collar crime…and after the dust settled from the Enron scandal & the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002…there lies a handful of businesses that don’t seem to mind being unethical in a myriad of ways. The majority of the businesses in that group are in the banking business. My subject is Wachovia Bank, formerly one of America’s six largest banks by assets. In 2012, Wachovia completed what amounted to a year-long probation arising from a March 2010 settlement deal with federal prosecutors who were pursuing criminal proceedings against Wachovia for its facilitating of illegal money transfers from Mexico totaling $378 billion. To put that number in perspective…that is more than the annual budget of the Pentagon, the world’s headquarters of military operations for the U.S. Anyone interested in the happenings of the U.S. congress can research the percentage of U.S. dollars appropriated by our nation’s congress and see that military funding makes up, on average, over 50% of the federal budget. Conversely, an average of less than 10% is spent on education, job training, employment and social services combined! The...
Words: 1092 - Pages: 5
...Paper MGT/449 Wells Fargo versus Wachovia From the beginning in 1852, then titled Wells, Fargo & Co., the new banking and express delivery company became a well-known and trusted place to buy gold, bank, and sell paper drafts (which were as good as gold) (Wells Fargo, 1999). Since then, Wells Fargo has moved East through the United States, and has globalized. In 1929, Wachovia was incorporated as South Carolina National Bank. While the history of the banks founders date back to the late 1790’s Wachovia gained its reputation as a trustworthy Southern bank that handled all forms of banking needs including but not limited to checking, mortgage loans, securities, and insurance (The Gale Group, Inc., 2006). It was not until the 1990’s that Wachovia branched out of the South, and tailored to London, and Japan customers with that limit, the bank remained primarily domesticated. While Wells Fargo is a domestic bank their lending and financial practices have primarily become global. This paper will discuss the difference between the companies’ different versions of strategy, and customer service. Focusing on globalization and domestication, how quality management affects the position of the companies in the domestic and global market. Community Banking Versus Global Banking When guiding your business toward success, you may come across many different aspects where a decision is needed. In the banking industry there are global banks and community banks. These institutions...
Words: 1212 - Pages: 5
...lost their homes due to inappropriate foreclosures that large banks and other lenders had created. In the online article, "Homes, Not Tents", a San Francisco neighborhood named Bernal Heights had occupants come together in solidarity to protest against the banks for lending predatory loans and subprime loans with high interests rates and high risk, which lead to the foreclosure homes in this area; this was known as the Occupy Bernal movement which took place in 2011. In the article, "Enginnering an Islamic Future" by Bill Maurer, we see an Islamic Banking system that differs from the U.S. capitalistic system. From an Islamic Banking perspective, the issues that would arise with this foreclosure crisis include unethical issues, issues of deregulation of the subprime loans, and the loss of the American dream and their identity to those who lost their homes in Bernal Heights. First, the groundwork of the Islamic Banking is that it is ethical, meaning that it takes the well being of their people into consideration. In Bernal Heights, the large banks, such as Well Fargo and Wachovia, became the primary lenders of money through subprime loans. Subprime loans are loans that are given to people who do not meet the requirements for a prime loans. These banks were constantly making loan contracts with individuals who they knew were not going to be able to pay back their interests with their current income. So basically, these banks were lending for their own self interests to make a profit...
Words: 1199 - Pages: 5
...Introduction II. Subprime History III. What lead to subprime lenders making unethical and illegal decisions IV. What safe guards are in place V. Conclusions VI. Works cited page Introduction When most people hear the phrase “subprime lending”, the first thoughts that come to mind are the mortgage meltdown; predatory lenders, high interest mortgages for borrowers who have poor credit or low incomes. All of these thoughts may be true to a certain extent, but contrary to popular belief subprime mortgage lending has helped expand homeownership for all borrowers regardless of credit or income level in the US between 1995 and 2006 (Favro, 07). The problem is that this ethical and legal lending market took an unethical and illegal turn and has been cited as one of the contributing factors that aided in many Americans defaulting on their home loans that resulted in sending this country and many others into one of the biggest recessions since the Great Depression. It has been almost six years since the subprime meltdown and this country, the housing markets, and the economy have yet to fully recovered. In this research paper I will cover the history and original purpose of subprime lending, what lured the subprime lending market to take an unethical and illegal turn, and what safeguards have been put in place to lessen the likely hood of subprime mortgage lenders making unethical and illegal decisions in the future. Before continuing, lets look at the definitions...
Words: 2430 - Pages: 10
...investigated is did Goldman and Sachs engage in shady trading transactions and were these transactions done in the best interest of their clients? Were Goldman and Sachs guilty of not disclosing the trade strategy to investors through their numerous practices of investment tools which they were using? 1. Go back through the case and make a list of each action or practice that could be called a gray area. - In the 1920’s the layered investment strategy was created by Goldman. He created a company and purchased 90 percent of the company’s shares which would seem to be doing very well to the outside investors, the shares would then sell to the public for an additional 10 percent. This area is gray because Goldman was deceiving the public and driving up the price of the stock. Example l00 per share-Goldman buys 90%: public buys 10 %.( Jennings, 2010, p.73-74) - In 1990 Goldman became the Wall Street giant on taking the Internet companies public: this was done by “selling air” Goldman underwrote 47 companies which some may not have shown any profits. “The standard underwriting practice of requiring that a company show three years of profitability before being taken public was no longer enforced.” (Jennings, 2010, p.75) This makes Goldman’s practice of underwriting companies gray because some of the companies did not have any profits but he continued writing. - According to Jennings Laddering known as the “insider scam by the underwriters” because Goldman knew that the initial price...
Words: 2309 - Pages: 10
...One of these “incidents” is Well Fargo, the golden child of the post-financial crisis banking world. According to Matthews and Heimer on 2016, the bank’s focus on funding itself with a large base of retail deposits helped it weather the late-aughts credit crisis and emerge even stronger with a truly nationwide presence. The downside to Wells Fargo’s strategy? To grow profits, it had to rely on its ability to cross-sell more profitable products to its customer base. That path wound up leading the company into a quagmire. Executives sought to drive growth by putting undue pressure on its employees to hit sales quotas, and many employees responded by fraudulently opening customer accounts. In most cases these accounts were closed before customers noticed, but in other cases consumers were hit with associated fees or took hits to their credit ratings. The bank was forced to return $2.6 million in ill-gotten fees and pay $186 million in fines to the government. But the biggest hit Wells Fargo will take is to its reputation, as the media and government officials spent much of the year slamming the bank for its fraud. The scandal also cost its CEO John Stumpf his...
Words: 1812 - Pages: 8
...discuss for my final project paper is Goldman Sachs, the renowned American bulge bracket investment bank. In addition to bringing many companies public, Goldman is also a publicly traded financial institution headquartered in New-York city. The company’s main line of business is in helping corporations and government institutions raise capital, providing underwriting services and mergers and acquisitions advice. More specifically, Goldman Sachs specializes in investment banking, asset management, and trading and securities transaction services. Goldman has an employee head-count of approximately 35,700 people and operates mainly in the U.S, Asia and Europe. The company trades on the New-York Stock Exchange; using the ticker symbol GS. Similar and in some respects worse than other investment banks, Goldman Sachs profits fell in 2011; reportedly by as much as 58% in the final quarter when compared to the same period a year earlier. It is well documented that the financial services industry has been cutting jobs post 2008 financial meltdown. Just last year, Goldman Sachs slashed some 2,400 jobs while setting aside an approximate $367,000 in compensation per employee, down 15% from an average of $430,000 in 2010. One distressed employee referred to the reward/compensation cut as a ‘bloodbath’. From all reports it seems like the culture and morale at Goldman, the most profitable bank in Wall Street history, is at an all time low; particularly since management has taken a decision...
Words: 4184 - Pages: 17
...eleven thousand in 1984 to just over seven thousand in 2006. The average profitability of the largest banks grew to outstrip the profitability of the industry’s smallest banks; an outcome traceable to increased competition from bank and nonbank financial firms, new technology that reduced the advantage of banks having a local presence, and the development of services that could be offered over wider geographic areas (www.mheducation.com). A new type of financial-services holding company (FHC) was created in 1999 as a result of passage of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB) Act. Provided these entities hold strong capital positions and possess sound management, they are permitted to bring together under the same corporate umbrella, commercial banks, investment banks, insurance companies, and selected other affiliated companies that are “financial in nature” and “compatible” with banking (www.mheducation.com). The FHCs come closest to mirroring the organizational structures and service menus of leading European banks, such as Deutsche Bank AG of Frankfurt and HSBC Holdings based in London, by offering the broadest array of services of any financial-services provider (www.mheducation.com). With joint approval of the U.S. Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Board the menu of services FHCs can offer may be expanded in the future. As the twenty-first century unfolded almost six hundred and fifty holding companies selling services in the United States, including both domestic and...
Words: 2378 - Pages: 10
...Bank of America research paper Kim Adams Wilmington University Bank of America's history dates back to 1904, when Amadeo Giannini founded the Bank of Italy in San Francisco to cater to immigrants who were denied service from other banks. Shortly following the opening of Bank of Italy the San Francisco earthquake struck, causing most banks to halt all lending practices. Giannini managed to rescue funds to start lending within a few days of the disaster to those who was willing to rebuild. Bank of America was formed when Giannini consolidated his Bank of Italy with Bank of America. As of 2010, Bank of America is the 5th largest company in the United States by total revenue, as well as the second largest non-oil company in the U.S. (after Walmart). In 2010, Forbes listed Bank of America as the 3rd biggest company in the world. (CNN Money) As one can imagine, all industries from mom and pop stores to multi million corporations have felt the wrath of the economic downturn. To make the statement that any bank is performing desirably would be a slight exaggeration. Prior to the recession, banks (including Bank of America) were content with relaxed lending guidelines, contracting out any brokers, and questionable appraisers. The above noted coupled with American’s constant desire for more, set the United States up for a perfect storm. The share price, like the US banking market in general, has dipped significantly from its relatively recent highs. The last twelve...
Words: 2595 - Pages: 11
...Synopsis: Assume that you recently graduated and have just reported to work as an investment advisor at the brokerage firm of Balik and Kiefer Inc. One of the firm’s clients is Michelle DellaTorre, a professional tennis player who has just come to the United States from Chile. DellaTorre is a highly ranked tennis player who would like to start a company to produce and market apparel that she designs. She also expects to invest substantial amounts of money through Balik and Kiefer. DellaTorre is also very bright, and, therefore, she would like to understand, in general terms, what will happen to her money. Your boss has developed the following set of questions which you must ask and answer to explain the U.S. financial system to DellaTorre (Brigham, & Ehrhardt, 2014, p. 48). Questions: A. Why is corporate finance important to all managers? After reviewing the information provided for this class, it goes without saying that corporate finance is very critical for managers to understand the finances of the company; because it provides them with the much needed skills to make decisions regarding the corporate strategies and individual responsibilities that increase value within and for the company. Corporate finance is also very critical to mangers so that they are able to help forecast funding requirements or better yet, help the company acquire funds via various strategies (Brigham, et al., 2014). B. Describe the organizational form a company might have as it evolves...
Words: 2627 - Pages: 11
...FIN370/Finance for Business November 19, 2012 Wal-Mart: Ethics and Compliance Wal-Mart Stores, Inc, known as WMT on the flow of the New York Stock Exchange, has become the number one retailer in the world, a far stretch from what founder Sam Walton ever imagined, when he opened the first Wal-Mart ever in 1962 with its first 25 employees. Walton’s retailer foundation of offering the lowest price anytime anywhere would prove itself extremely successful. Today Wal-Mart Stores Inc, operates more than 10,500 stores in 27 countries and it employs about 2.2 Million employees. With much financial success, Wal-Mart prides its self not only in its financial success but also in its obligations to the community. Wal-Mart participates in Community giving programs, in environmental sustainability programs and even, financially gives billions in the efforts in the fight against hunger by making food not only more affordable but also healthier. “Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest” -Mark Twain ("Walmart Statement Of Ethics", 2012). This is the quote that appears in Wal-Mart’s code of ethics when you get to their “financial integrity” section. In their code of conduct/ethics, Wal-Mart makes it very clear that they’re financial success is due in part to their upmost promise to abide by honest and accurate financial recording standards. The statement is directed to all associates (employees)...
Words: 1733 - Pages: 7
...OFF-DUTY CONDUCT OF POLICE OFFICERS Off-Duty Conduct of Police Officers Dan Henderson Abstract Police officers are held to a higher standard and pledge to follow the Law Enforcement Code of Ethics both on and off-duty. Some officers knowingly violate laws expecting preferential treatment if caught. This creates a double standard and fosters a lack of trust and respect by the general public. Police departments must hold officers accountable for off-duty incidents to maintain public trust and department integrity. Officers must hold each other accountable and not accept unethical or illegal behavior of any kind from a peer. Off-Duty Behavior of Police Officers Introduction Police officers in the United States are tasked with protecting the public from all enemies foreign and domestic. A police officer’s duties range from basic documentation of crimes that have occurred, to the active engagement, and battling of criminals to protect the citizens they serve. Police officers learn the Police Officer’s Code of Ethics while training in the police academy. They are expected to conduct themselves, both on duty and off with the Police Officer’s Code of Ethics in mind. Public expectation of fair and equal treatment The public that police officers serve have an expectation of fair and equal treatment. The Constitution of the United States (Bill of Rights) provides guarantees to all people in the United States of America. Article the sixth (Amendment IV)...
Words: 3592 - Pages: 15
...had not worked to establish balance playing field on the world stage or our domestic economy. As we look forward toward corrective action though the Dodd-Frank Act, Sarbanes-Oxley Act or the Global Legal Settlement of 2002 which reduced the conflict of interest as did the Sarbanes-Oakley Act. These conflicts encompass “underwriting and research in investment banks, auditing and consulting in accounting firms and credit assessment and consulting in credit rating agencies.” (Sanati, 2009) So while we have had a slow and diosmose recovery from this crisis, I will try to answer some of the questions presented to us today on our ability to fully recover and instill some preventative measures to ensure a worst and more devastating financial crisis from taking hold of our economic system. Keywords: Glass-Steagall Act, Bailout, Dodd-Frank Act The Federal Reserve System & Financial Crisis The key factor that protected the banking customers in the United States was repealed in 1988 by than President Bill Clinton; the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 had placed a firewall between the Commercial banks and the Investment banks. The...
Words: 5914 - Pages: 24
