Occupy Wall Street Raises Questions about Ethical Conduct of the Finance Industry and Today's CFA Poll Finds Support

Dr. David Krause, AIM program director at Marquette University said, "The financial industry should not dismiss Occupy Wall Street (OWS) as a fringe group. Polling the past several weeks by Princeton Research Associates, Spectrem Group, Gallup, etc. has suggested support that 'the OWS protesters are making good and valid points' when they question business ethics and the growing income divide in America. This reflects a key shift in ethical behavior among young people (and other OWS supporters) about their feelings toward the present U.S. economic and political systems."

"And it is not just the OWS group that feels this way; I was amazed in reading the response to the CFA NewsBrief poll taken earlier this week (see below). I can bet you that few OWS supporters read this daily publication - making the results even more alarming. While the CFA poll was specifically about the conduct of the hedge fund industry, I think it is symptomatic of the general mood of the country about the finance industry."

Dr. Krause continued, "I'm very pleased that the capstone course in the AIM program at Marquette is our Investment Ethics course. Our graduating finance majors are made aware of the types of ethical issues they will face and I am confident that they handle them properly. I believe that they are well aware that improper and unethical conduct is not going to be tolerated and they know that the public's mood about their industry is quite hostile at this time. Given the the broad liberal arts background and Jesuit values that our students receive during their time at Marquette, I'm confident they will made sound, ethical decisions as they enter the industry after graduation."