ICM515: Ethical Dilemmas in Finance

Module code: ICM515

Module provider: ICMA Centre; Henley Business School

Credits: 20

Level: 7

When you'll be taught: Semester 2

Module convenor: Dr John Chessher, email: j.r.chessher@icmacentre.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: No

Talis reading list: No

Last updated: 19 November 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This module prepares students for careers in finance. It is also useful for those considering careers in government or in multilateral organisations. 

The module encourages the development of critical perspectives on whether and why ethics matter. Students will explore why ethical decision-making in finance matters, given the extent of power that is moderated by global finance. 

Students will study the effects of financialization, globalisation and privatisation. They will draw upon real world experiences to examine contemporaneous case studies that cover key instances of ethical failure across a range of sectors including the financial sector.  

Interdisciplinary, international and cross-sector perspectives will inform discussion of the key risk and issues. We will focus on risks that the community is exposed to, when untrammelled power is exerted by a small financial elite and their private and professional networks.  

Students will also study how institutional safeguards, state interventions, governance, culture and whistleblowing, can help ensure that power is exercised responsibly, so as to protect stakeholders.  

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to: 

- recognise why and when ethical decision-making matters 

- explain and contextualise ethical decision-making in different situations and industries, and then relate these rationales to money creation, financialisation, globalisation and privatisation 

- evaluate and critically reflect on  

• the challenges that are faced by those choosing to make principled / ethical decisions,   
• the risks posed to individuals and stakeholders who dissent in order to take an ethical stance,  
• the particular challenges faced in ethical decision-making within the financial sector, particularly with the onset of new technology, and  
• the dangers and who is exposed to such dangers when unethical decisions are made 

- critically evaluate the effects of factors such as lobbying, regulatory capture, regulatory arbitrage, revolving doors, privatisation, globalisation, surveillance and financialization in undermining the public interest and potentially furthering deeply unethical decision-making 

Module content

Students reflect critically on practitioner and scholarly contributions across topics, and are encouraged and supported to engage actively in wide-ranging discussions in the following areas with key points illustrated by case studies:   

• the ethical challenges in risk apportionment: the links between ethics, risk and business / profit-making 
• risk and finance; the ethical challenges in risk apportionment in banking, pensions, insurance, private equity, securities  
• privatisation, globalisation, financialisation  
• how unethical behaviour undermines the public interest  
• how risk-based decision-making in finance raises ethical challenges 
• how ethical decision-making can be impacted by lobbying, revolving doors, regulatory capture and cognitive regulatory capture 
• ethical challenges in respect of oversight, culture and senior management arrangements  
• whistleblowing as a mechanism to preserve accountability; particular ethical challenges in the financial sector and the dangers to dissenting voices and whistleblowers 
• ethics and fin tech, surveillance, privacy and power: the ethical dimensions 

It is also expected that students will review and reflect upon a range of scholarly and practitioner materials, both individually and in groups so as to develop and demonstrate understanding of the subject area 

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

This module is taught using 9 face-to-face lectures. Where a specific lecture cannot be taught in person on campus, it will be re-arranged, subject to timetabling constraints to another date as a face-to-face on-campus lecture. In some rare circumstances, it may have to be delivered online live. Our expectation though is that the lectures will typically be taught face-to-face on campus. 

There will also be 8 face to face seminars 2 of these seminars may be run online-live to facilitate discussion and the inclusion of guest speakers where applicable 

Reading lists and associated materials will be made available via Blackboard. Hard copy materials may supplement any online resources; if so these will be distributed during the lecture.    

Study hours

At least 24 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

50% weighted average mark

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Weekly interaction and contributions during lectures and seminars

Reassessment

Additional costs