| CODE | MRT5305 | ||||||||||||
| TITLE | Financial Ethics: The Ethical Dimension of Financial Activity | ||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | ||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 10 | ||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Moral Theology | ||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit will deal with ethical decision-making with regards to a number of issues and challenges that arise in financial activity. It will start of with a general overview of the meaning and purpose of finance and then discuss various ethical issues related to banking, investment and risk management, financial markets, accounting, and blockchain finance (cryptocurrencies). Study-Unit Aims: This study-unit aims to enable students to appreciate ethical issues related to decision-making in the areas of finance. Amongst other topics it will discuss finance ethics: the need for ethics in finance; agents, fiduciaries, and professionals; conflict of interest; ethics in investment; relationship investing; socially responsible investing; micro-finance; banking; ethics in financial markets such as fairness in markets, insider trading, hostile takeovers, mergers, acquisitions, derivatives, hedge, insurance, pension funds; money laundering and due diligence; accounting ethics; taxation including tax avoidance; compliance and ethics; blockchain; ethics in financial management and risk management; ethics of bankruptcy; irregular payments in business; misappropriation and fraud. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - explain the purpose and meaning of finance; - identify different ethical issues that could arise in finance; - Identify various unethical behaviours in the financial industries; - Explain the relationship between moral (ethical) and legal (compliance) responsibilities; - discuss the moral and legal responsibilities of people working in financial services; - discuss the moral and legal responsibilities of people working in banking services; - discuss the moral and legal responsibilities of people working in investment services; - discuss the moral and legal responsibilities of people working in insurance services; - propose styles of management in different business circumstances that could lead to a higher level of respect for employees while maintaining a good level of business efficiency; - Describe and examine the ethical issues related to cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - apply the notions of personal and corporate responsibility in a business context, with respect to business’s obligations and policies regarding financial issues. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: - Boatright John R., Finance Ethics: Critical Issues in Theory and Practice. Wiley 2010. - San-Jose Leire, José Luis Retolaza, Luc van Liedekerke. Handbook on Ethics in Finance. Springer 2021. Supplementary Readings: - Asher Anthony. Working Ethically in Finance: Clarifying Our Vocation. Business Expert Press 2015. - Boatright John R. Ethics in Finance. Wiley-Blackwell 2014. - Dembinski Paul H. Ethics and Responsibility in Finance. Routledge 2020. - Dembinski Paul H., Carole Lager, Andrew Cornford, Jean-Michel Bonvin. Enron and World Finance - A Case Study in Ethics. Springer 2005. - Oberlechner Thomas. The Psychology of Ethics in the Finance and Investment Industry. Research Foundation of CFA Institute 2007. - Villa Jes. Ethics in Banking: The Role of Moral Values and Judgements in Finance. Palgrave Macmillan 2015. |
||||||||||||
| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture and Independent Study | ||||||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
|
||||||||||||
| LECTURER/S | |||||||||||||
|
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
|||||||||||||