Fortune Bank Project: Crafting & Implementing a Code of Ethics

This project presents a code of conduct for a fictional bank named Fortune Bank, detailing ten key elements essential for ethical operation. These elements include personal responsibility, compliance with the law, roles of directors and executives, service standards, conflict of interest guidelines, limitations on political activities, conduct in money matters, confidentiality and use of information, commercial competition, and use of official property and services. The project further discusses the importance of a code of ethics from both employer and employee perspectives, emphasizing its role in fostering trust, ensuring a healthy work environment, and guiding employee behavior. It concludes by highlighting the significance of communication and open forums for effective implementation and compliance with the code of conduct within the banking environment. This document, contributed by a student, is available on Desklib, a platform offering a range of study tools including past papers and solved assignments.

Code of conduct
CODE OF CONDUCT IN A BANK
Name ( )
School ( )

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Abstract.
A code of conduct governs how employees and employers conduct themselves when carrying
out a business. The code of conduct shows the responsibilities of employees as well as the duties
of directors and the executive. It creates a trust relationship between the employer and the
employees. The code of conduct governs how employees interact with each other and the
information they should not disclose about their customers. It also provides guidelines on how to
deal with insubordinate employees. Implementation of the code of conduct in the banks will
require adequate communication and understanding by all employees so that it can be adopted
and followed with ease.

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Introduction.
A code of ethics is a guiding principle that helps employers and employees conduct
business honestly and with integrity. The banking industry is an industry that requires high levels
of integrity and trust by both the employees and employers. These are the elements in the code of
conduct for fortune bank in the banking industry.
● Personal responsibility; the employees must understand and comply with the code
of conduct associated with their profession.
● Compliance with the law; both employers and employees must comply with the
laws governing the country, and this ensures trust by the customers.
● Role of directors and executive; a clear list of duties to be performed by the
directors and executive managers.
● Service standard; banks as many service industries have to deliver high standard
service.
● Conflicts of interest; provide a guideline on the use of inside information and
dealings with transactions that may give rise to a conflict of interest.
● Limitation on political activities; guide employees on commenting on sensitive
government policies and programs.
● Conduct in money matters; a guideline on who to deal with the money of
customers.

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● Confidentiality and use of information; provide guidelines on how the bank is to
manage data of their customers.
● Commercial competition; provide a guideline on how the bank shall compete
fairly with other banks.
● Use of official property and services; provide a guideline on the authorization of
using company property.
These elements in the code of conduct help govern the behaviour of employees in the
banking sector. They help ensure employees conduct business honestly and with integrity. It also
shows the duties of the executive and the directors to ensure they provide good governance. The
code of conduct helps ensure that the Client’s information remains confidential. It also prevents
employees from using inside information to conduct business, such as insider trading, to buy
shares (Hellgardt A. 2013).
To an employee, the code of conduct helps in knowing what they should do and when
followed, problems will not arise and thus ensuring both career and future growth in the
organization (Erwin, 2011). It also shows employees how to behave in the office and accord their
superiors the respect they deserve.
Employers will rely on the code of conduct to build a trust relationship with the
employees. Additionally, they use the code of conduct to ensure that there is a pleasant working
environment for all employees. Communication is another crucial aspect that will ensure all
employees understand the code of conduct. (Kotzian P. 2016). The bank should also hold an

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open forum to discuss the code of ethics and how it will impact them, and this will create
awareness of the code of conduct and bring compliance. (Darmadi, 2013).
Conclusion.
The code of conduct is a vital tool in the effective running of a business. It outlines the
principles that should be followed by both the employees and employers of an organization. The
code of conduct also describes how to deal with issues that may arise between the employer and
employee. It can therefore be concluded that the code of conduct helps maintain a healthy
relationship between the employer and the employees and this aids in the effective running of the
day to day activities of the organization.

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References.
Kotzian, P., Stöber, T., & Weißenberger, B. E. (2016). Reducing Antitrust Violations: Do
Codes of Conduct and Compliance training Make a Difference? In Competition Law Compliance
Programmes (pp. 59-85). Springer, Cham.
Erwin, P. M. (2011). Corporate codes of conduct: The effects of code content and quality
on ethical performance. Journal of Business Ethics, 99(4), 535-548.
Darmadi, S. (2013). Corporate governance disclosure in the annual report: An
exploratory study on Indonesian Islamic banks. Humanomics, 29(1), 4-23.
Hellgardt, A. (2013). The notion of inside information in the Market Abuse Directive:
Geltl. Common Market Law Review, 50(3), 861-874.