Introduction: Risky Business - Proceed With Caution

• Author: Dr Shazeeda A. Ali
• Pages: 25-28

INTRODUCTION

Risky Business - Proceed with Caution

Shazeeda A. AliOnce upon a time, a nancial intermediary’s greatest concern was

its prot margin. ose days are gone as, nowadays, the business of

handling other people’s money is like navigating through a mineeld.

e risks are everywhere and very often concealed, with a high potential

for entanglement in an act of corporate misconduct.

e term corporate misconduct is used in the context of this

publication to refer to situations where nancial businesses may

become embroiled in criminality, either as victim, perpetrator or as the

vehicle through which misconduct is perpetrated. e concept is used

liberally to embrace the broad spectrum of nancial crimes, ranging

from money laundering and terrorist nancing to market abuse.

Unlike street crimes, corporate misconduct has not traditionally

received the same degree of attention and resources needed to ght such

behaviour. One reason is the perception that corporate misconduct is a

victimless activity or, even where there are victims, it is ‘widely believed

that most…victims fall into one of three categories:

1. Too rich to be hurt

2. Too greedy to be pitied

3. Too stupid for words

e truth is that most victims…had little choice in the matter.’1

In assessing the overall ‘human cost’ of corporate misconduct, a

parallel may be drawn with that associated with fraud, which includes:2

•the loss of nancial security, even one’s life savings;