Law firm report exposes dark side of financial services

May, 20 2015

A murky picture of Wall St and the City of London emerges from a Labaton Sucharow report which suggests that the more people earn the more sceptical they get - and that a third of UK individuals would do insider trading if they could go undetected.

The report, based on a survey of 1,200 professionals, shows that 47% of respondents think it likely that competitiors have engaged in illegal or unethical activity to get a market edge - and the proportion rises to 51% among people earning US$500,000 a year or more. Some 27% of all respondents do not believe that the sector puts clients first - and this rises to 38% among those earning upwards of $500,000.

Crisis

A third (34%) of the $500,000+ group have seen or experienced wrong-doing first hand - compared to 21% of those earning under $50,000. The law firm and its co-author, The University of Notre Dame, confess themselves to be 'alarmed' at the findings of their own report, 'The Street, The Bull and The Crisis: A Survey of the US & UK Financial Services Industry'. Source: Labaton Sucharow