The report, A Crisis of Culture: Valuing Ethics and Knowledge in Financial Services, claimed that “to become more resilient, financial services firms need to address knowledge gaps”.
According to the report, 59% of respondents identify better knowledge of the industry as the top priority for making their firm more resilient to risk.
The report also flags up lack of understanding and communication between departments as a problem: 62% of respondents said most employees do not know what is happening in other departments. However, 52% also said learning about the role and performance of other departments would not help improve their performance.
Focus on ethics
Ethics has risen up the agenda for most firms. Over two-thirds (67%) said they had raised awareness around ethical conduct over the last three years.
A further 63% said they have strengthened their formal code of conduct and the system for evaluating employee behaviour (61%). And 43% said their firms have introduced career or financial incentives to encourage ethical behaviour.
CIPD CEO Peter Cheese said the challenge is “not just to ensure that non-banking staff understand finance”.
“[It’s] to ensure leaders of the business, whether their roles are in HR, IT, or more core banking functions, are taking genuinely shared responsibility for the purpose, culture and strategic direction of the business,” he said.
The global survey collated the views of 382 executives in the financial services industry.
