Lord Mayor calls for personal integrity and alignment of professional standards

04 October 2012

Against the background of the Financial Services Bill, the Wheatley Review, and the Tyrie Commission, The Rt Hon the Lord Mayor Alderman David Wootton will tell City business leaders today (Thursday) that although a “huge amount of work has been done - we must continue to put our house in order” and “focus our energies on the absolute imperative of getting ourselves in the best possible ethical shape”.

Whilst welcoming the Financial Services Bill before Parliament and the rigorous scrutiny it is receiving and  “applauding the Chancellor’s measured contribution to making sure we get the right structures in place”  the Lord Mayor, who is the elected ambassador for UK-based financial services, is expected to caution that “law and regulation are only a part (of the solution) - they give powers to scrutinise and to take action in the event of a wrong being committed, but they can never be a substitute for the right culture, the right ethics and the right service – to clients, to shareholders, to one another and to the wider economy”.

He is expected to add that:

“It is vital that all our business is conducted to the highest standards of integrity - this means that Boards need to ensure that the standards they set are ‘lived’ through their businesses – to see that they are truly embedded at every level. It also means that we need to encourage and educate every individual working within the City to act with integrity”.

“We also need to define common standards across different business sectors and seek greater alignment between professional bodies in the industry, to set our moral compass and to find a common way forward, with disciplinary structures that are transparent for practitioners and the public alike – structures that show that the City is doing what the City does and always should do: getting stuck in and coming up with a solution.”

In this context, The Lord Mayor will urge business leaders to support a series of initiatives developed by the City Values Forum which include:

‘Governing Values’ - a review and development of  best practice guidelines and a ‘toolkit’ to enable Boards to monitor the implementation of values - being undertaken with Tomorrow’s Company

‘Leadership with Integrity’ - a foundation course for managers – being developed with Cass Business School

‘Performance for Values’ - a best practice guide to incorporate values into recruitment and appraisal policies – being developed with the City HR Association.

Delegates will be invited to participate in an interactive discussion conducted by representatives of the Chartered Banker Institute and the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI) and called Raising the bar – setting and aligning professional standards - about developments in standard setting and the prospects for further alignment across the financial services sector.

Joe Garner, Head of UK Bank and Deputy CEO of HSBC HBEU will give a keynote address entitled ‘Putting the customer first’ and Lady Susan Rice, Managing Director, Lloyds Banking Group Scotland and Chair of the Chartered Banker Professional Standards Board will lead a discussion on ‘Deserving and winning customer trust’.

Delegates will also be updated on developments in ‘Leading the Sector’, a Next Generation Leadership programme from TheCityUK and upon the ‘Investing in Integrity Charter Mark’ established by The Institute for Business Ethics and CISI to enable companies to demonstrate a commitment to act with integrity at all times.

Ends

Note to editors

1. Media enquiries
   Richard Sermon MBE, Chairman, The City Values Forum
   c/o Suite 1b, 20 Ironmonger Lane
   London
   EC2V 8EP
   T 020 7776 8828
   M 07738 733449
   020 7600 7152
   E rsermon@gryphoncorporate.com​