The Governance Institute of Australia’s latest Ethics Index revealed that the banking, finance and insurance sector continues to have the lowest ethics index score of all sectors, as it suffers from the fallout of the royal commission.
High executive salaries are seen as the most ethically important issue for the banking and finance sector, with 74 per cent of Australians saying it is unethical to offer a CEO salary of more than $3 million per annum.
Accountants, however, scored the highest in ethical behavior with a 50 per cent score, while tax agents followed with a 44 per cent rating.
“The banking and finance sector continues to suffer from credibility issues following the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry. One in two people now rate the sector either ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ unethical,” said CEO of Governance Institute of Australia Megan Motto.
According to Ms Motto, the banking sector is followed very closely by media, large corporations and government.
The sectors rated most ethical are health (for the fourth year in a row), education, charities and not-for-profit organisations, and agriculture.
