International Meetings on Ethics, Finance and Responsibility

As the financial sector becomes increasingly globalized, it seems easier to take refuge in reassuring paradigms and hence ignore the question of how one’s decisions affect the common good. Both institutional and individual decisions are all too often assessed solely in terms of profitability. The notion of responsibility is reduced to its legal dimension, and the notion of ethics to mere rules of conduct.

That is why the Observatoire de la Finance has being holding annual international meetings on ethics, finance and responsibility ever since 2002. The main purpose of these meetings, which are based on a number of round tables, is to provide a range of examples and analyses on the relationship between finance and ethics – for nowadays it is particularly important to sharpen financial operators’ judgment so that their decisions will be responsible and ethically sound.

The participants, from all over Europe, as well as the United States and Africa, are academics and intellectuals, financial practitioners and members of public regulatory bodies or NGOs.

The Echo de l’Ethique discussion group

Working life generates ethical dilemmas as a matter of course. These may remain hidden beneath the surface, but their roots burrow deep and undermine both individuals and institutions, sometimes to breaking point.

The Echo de l’Ethique discussion group aims to provide a forum for discussion where the ethical problems arising from working life can be expressed and debated in complete anonymity, for the benefit of all.

The group meets at regular intervals for an in-depth discussion of cases or situations, without necessarily striving for consensus. At the end of each meeting, a detailed report is drawn up and published on the Observatoire’s website. This allows the authors of the various contributions to consult the working group’s comments and discussions in complete anonymity.