Big Bank Business:

The Ethics & Social Responsibility of the Finance Industry

Beware as you next pass the grand trees of The University of Adelaides North Terrace campus for you may just encounter a modern day Robin Hood. Her name is Erin Derina, Associate Lecturer from the Business School and her arrow is poised with the big banks in sight. This finance wiz is all about the rich giving to the poor, no daggy green outfits or merry-men required. You may recall, not so long ago the media went into overdrive about a certain Aussie bank experiencing an embarrassing financial system glitch which temporarily prevented many a loyal customer from accessing their funds. Thousands of bills, mortgages, automatic payments etc, went unpaid. ATM mouths clamped shut and so did the mouths of the bank CEOs. The words We Apologise were MIA (missing in action). The humble customer was left with nowhere to turn. Not good enough! cried Erin Derina. What is behind this attitude from the big banks? What are the triggers that make banks so complicated and disconnected from the common people? How do they become so greedy and so risky with their behaviour? Why are Governments so supportive of them? Through her research, Erin aims to understand how the big banks can be so cavalier and dismissive of their number one clientele: the people. No doubt all financial consumers would like to get to the bottom of that one. Lucky we have Erin on the trail. Erin grew up in a small country town on the Indonesian island of Java and later moved to Jakarta with her parents who were lecturers in economics and industrial engineering. Erin was exposed to much financial and university jargon from an early age. She knew she didnt like being told what to do and so when deciding what to do with her life, she realised studying and teaching was a field where she could be her own person. She found accounting was a little on the boring side and economics too esoteric. Finance fit just right. During her University years, Erin observed some of her peers enrolled purely for the prestige and the reputation of the University. She also noted some of the lecturers seemingly held no connection to what they were teaching and behaved rather dispassionately about their field of research. This surprised Erin as she felt extremely privileged; she was acutely aware many of her nations people would never be afforded the opportunity of study. Therefore, she made up her mind very early, when she became a teacher, she would instil enthusiasm, passion and a sense of community responsibility in her students. By her final undergraduate year, Erin was already assisting with teaching/tutoring and she was working for a Research Institute in Jakarta that provided training to executives. Erin had found her calling. Teaching and researching at The University of Adelaides Business school is a dream come true for Erin. Erin completed her PhD in 2011 whilst teaching classes of up to 250 students. Long term, she would like to study Education to cement her teaching qualifications. English is Erins second language and therefore teaching has vastly increased her confidence. Shes acutely aware her course delivery must be flawless and she relishes rising to the challenge. Equal to Erins passion for teaching is her passion for research. Erin suspects the current global financial crisis is largely due to greed. Shed like to impose students learn financial ethics as part of their studies with a new focus on big banks and market power: Is it necessarily a good thing? The impact on the community would suggest it isnt, so

how do we aim to remedy that? Erin is also greatly concerned by the banks dismissive behaviour towards their smaller customers. Weekly salaries and other meagre deposits by the little people are the lifeblood of the big banks, yet these consumers seem to be the last catered or cared for. When things go pear shaped, the little customers bail out the banks not the big investors. Erin feels our banks lack social responsibility and their CEOs are too profit driven. Sure enough, there are some banks with a community investment (BankSA Crime Stoppers is one example) but is this an offering of goodwill or a clever marketing ploy? Its difficult not to be cynical when the big banks dont own up to their mistakes or make the most basic of apologies when systems fail. There seems to be an attitude by the bank CEOs of I get paid, who cares? Additionally, when a financial institution becomes large enough, it gains Government protection and this can lead to market abuse. Who is answerable? The bank? The government? The general public could claim to be aware of these issues, but Erin feels what we really need is a more detailed analysis into how to fix the problem. We need to show the public the problem can be rectified and why changing the system will be beneficial to them. To study this, Erin accumulates bank data and reports (at least, those reports the banks will disclose!) and then compares this data against the current marketplace to pinpoint certain behavioural trends by the banks. Additional to this research, Erin is also concerned with financial planning for the poorer citizens of Indonesia. The poorest people dont pay tax and their attitude is simply to meet their daily living expenses and pay for the education of their children nothing more. The Indonesian Government provides basics for these people but no healthcare. Ultimately, these people become a financial drain on society. Erin would like to see the social security system improved to assist these people who live on the poverty line. Improving the standard of living in Indonesia has benefits for the Australian government, as it improves regional political stability and lessens the gap between the haves and have-nots. The cycle of generational poverty must be broken. Ideally, Erin would like to see more funding and collaboration between Australia and Indonesia with a focus on research into micro-finance: how the financial market affects the little person and if insurance for low income earners is one answer. Erin believes The University of Adelaide is poised to make a real difference with the right research team of skilled and passionate people. So next time you make a deposit at your local bank, keep a look out over your shoulder.....you may just see Erin Robin Hood Derina lurking nearby, keeping a watchful eye you get the service youre entitled to. (And she might have recruited a bunch of merry-folk to assist her.)