Friday, August 10, 2012

Frank Partnoy on the lawyers involved in the Standard Chartered scandal.

HereHe said it perfectly.  My favorite part of his Financial Times piece?
We know bankers can be ruthless when pursuing profits. But bank lawyers are not supposed to think like bankers. Decades ago, the general counsel of a bank thought more about ethics than efficiency. But today’s in-house counsel are often profit centres, fonts of wisdom on how to avoid accounting rules, cut taxes and maintain the secrecy of dubious practices. One reason for the recent wave of abuses at big banks is that their in-house lawyers have been more focused on speed and profit than on right and wrong.
And that's why it's important to focus on more than the bottom line.

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