Lecture Introduction:

In the wake of the financial crisis the prominent investment bank Goldman Sachs has come under scrutiny by investors, US government institutions, and the media. What kind of ethics has Goldman Sachs practiced in the past? And what kind of ethics should it follow in the future? The lecture, first, discusses the “Abacus 2007” case brought forward against the bank by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. It then examines Goldman Sachs’s reaction since April 2010 and its report of January 2011. Finally, the bank’s standards are compared and evaluated with the professional ethics of the Chartered Financial Analysts. No doubt, to put the interests of one’s clients first is demanding.