Chris MacDonald and Katherine Rittershaus
"Conflict of Interest Policies at Canadian Banks"
April 8, 2015 from 2:10-3:30 pm
TRS 3-099

Conflict of interest (COI) is an important issue for many institutions, but it is of crucial interest to banks. Institutions whose success depends centrally on public trust must be especially careful to avoid any situation that might, fairly or unfairly, tend to jeopardize that trust. So banks must be especially cautious about Conflict of Interest. Clear policies are the foundation upon which proper management of Conflict of Interest is built. But previous studies suggest that COI is poorly understood, and that COI policies are sometimes poorly written. This presentation presents the results of an examination of the COI policies of Canada's 'big 5' banks, suggests areas of improvement, and ranks the 5 banks' policies in terms of quality, completeness, and clarity.