Is wall street actually very ethical?

monkey_business:

I believe almost all illegal and unethical behavior on WS is caught and its very hard to violate rules.

Does anyone know anyone that has violated a rule or law and not gotten caught? Just wondering because I believe most people that work on wall street are extremely ethical and moral people. I believe bankers rarely overcharge clients and hedge funds almost never commit insider trading. Steven Cohen and SAC has the toughest compliance on the street and he has never done anything wrong IMO.

//www.youtube.com/embed/mv7CtLrQ3hU

My beliefs stem from the fact that Im in college and even though I don't want to sound Anti-foreigner (Sorry I don't know how else to put it) I can honestly say that the finance students I hang out with not from the US are 10x less ethical than the finance students I hang out with from the US.

Basically, everyone I know from Asia, Europe, etc. only wants to work in finance to get 6-7 figure salaries while lots of my American friends say they want to work in finance because its challenging and interesting to them (maybe their just good liars though IDK). Also, the stories I hear about corruption even in very non-corrupt countries like England are much worse than what goes on in the states (i.e. there are probably 50 HFs like SAC Cap. and the regulators only catch extremely dumb people like the I-Banker MD who traded in takeover stocks using his wives account...like they'd never look there lol)

HEY! Who wants to start an Occupy Hollywood moment!

Febreeze:

Watch the 'worst answers in family feud history' related video...lmao

monkey_business:

My beliefs stem from the fact that Im in college and even though I don't want to sound Anti-foreigner (Sorry I don't know how else to put it) I can honestly say that the finance students I hang out with not from the US are 10x less ethical than the finance students I hang out with from the US.

Basically, everyone I know from Asia, Europe, etc. only wants to work in finance to get 6-7 figure salaries while lots of my American friends say they want to work in finance because its challenging and interesting to them (maybe their just good liars though IDK). Also, the stories I hear about corruption even in very non-corrupt countries like England are much worse than what goes on in the states (i.e. there are probably 50 HFs like SAC Cap. and the regulators only catch extremely dumb people like the I-Banker MD who traded in takeover stocks using his wives account...like they'd never look there lol)

So young, so naive.

monkey_business:

I want someone to prove the below statements wrong.

I believe almost all illegal and unethical behavior on WS is caught and its very hard to violate rules.

Yeah... everyone go upload all incriminating evidence to the internet. What could possibly go wrong?

monkey_business:

My beliefs stem from the fact that Im in college and even though I don't want to sound Anti-foreigner (Sorry I don't know how else to put it) I can honestly say that the finance students I hang out with not from the US are 10x less ethical than the finance students I hang out with from the US.

Basically, everyone I know from Asia, Europe, etc. only wants to work in finance to get 6-7 figure salaries while lots of my American friends say they want to work in finance because its challenging and interesting to them (maybe their just good liars though IDK). Also, the stories I hear about corruption even in very non-corrupt countries like England are much worse than what goes on in the states (i.e. there are probably 50 HFs like SAC Cap. and the regulators only catch extremely dumb people like the I-Banker MD who traded in takeover stocks using his wives account...like they'd never look there lol)

I don't want to indulge you, but yes, I think you're probably on to something here. I've found that foreigners in the United States- particularly kids from asia- have an obsession with wall street which stems from love of money. I'm not condemning the practice to a unusual degree (given the fact that we're all on this forum), but I do think that they're goals are often more shallow than those of their American counterparts.

However, I don't think you're right in saying that the corruption stories are far worse there. They might get more coverage, but I think it's a case of a lot of smaller crimes being committed here in greater quantity, versus bigger ones over there.

A second thing to consider is that regulatory agencies are much stronger in countries such as the UK, where the conservative parties don't continually try to cut funding to the agencies responsible for overseeing ethical practice. Perhaps much more crime is being committed in this country that we realize, and the reason we're not catching it is due to weak enforcement or insufficient oversight

Mitt Romney:

monkey_business:

My beliefs stem from the fact that Im in college and even though I don't want to sound Anti-foreigner (Sorry I don't know how else to put it) I can honestly say that the finance students I hang out with not from the US are 10x less ethical than the finance students I hang out with from the US.

Basically, everyone I know from Asia, Europe, etc. only wants to work in finance to get 6-7 figure salaries while lots of my American friends say they want to work in finance because its challenging and interesting to them (maybe their just good liars though IDK). Also, the stories I hear about corruption even in very non-corrupt countries like England are much worse than what goes on in the states (i.e. there are probably 50 HFs like SAC Cap. and the regulators only catch extremely dumb people like the I-Banker MD who traded in takeover stocks using his wives account...like they'd never look there lol)

I don't want to indulge you, but yes, I think you're probably on to something here. I've found that foreigners in the United States- particularly kids from asia- have an obsession with wall street which stems from love of money. I'm not condemning the practice to a unusual degree (given the fact that we're all on this forum), but I do think that they're goals are often more shallow than those of their American counterparts.

However, I don't think you're right in saying that the corruption stories are far worse there. They might get more coverage, but I think it's a case of a lot of smaller crimes being committed here in greater quantity, versus bigger ones over there.

A second thing to consider is that regulatory agencies are much stronger in countries such as the UK, where the conservative parties don't continually try to cut funding to the agencies responsible for overseeing ethical practice. Perhaps much more crime is being committed in this country that we realize, and the reason we're not catching it is due to weak enforcement or insufficient oversight

i think they r jus bad @ hiding it/more honest about it - like we tout exit opps and "learning experience" but in reality we are all largely motivated by money - u wouldn't do this job for no bonus and $50k/year lol

monkey_business:

Finally, the SEC and DOJ are extremely effective at stopping illegal activity.

Like with Bernie? Quick google and wikipedia of SEC brings up a lot of shortcomings of the agency, and one book that I've even read which contrasts your statement is Einhorn's book.

streetwannabe:

Like with Bernie?

//www.youtube.com/embed/E_WyBCux4d0

Ohio looks beautiful in October. I'm kind of intrigued by the Waldo free lance videographer on the side over there.