Abstract

Ethics plays a substantial role in modern theory and practice of young financial markets. Financial ethics, as a subset of general ethics, focuses on applying the ethical principles in setting and preserving norms of financial morality, honesty, and fairness in financial markets. With the definition in mind, it is crucial to inspect the cause and factors that lead to ethical deviations. The decay of ethical values stems from wrong evaluation of money, criminalization of market act behavior, ignorance, as well as misconceptions. Negative consequences that arise from ethical violations lead to a wide range of serious banking and financial crises. The existing legal regulations and instruments of investor protection have proved insufficient in the control process, creating a need to establish clear operating ethical principles. This thesis focuses on ethics and morality in modern society, as well as the mechanisms for ethical value preservation. In the set context, the research analyses the interrelations of ethics of society and of the individual as an obstacle in the process of financial investment. The thesis presents proposals for improving ethical values in the finance sector in a form of possible provisions of the ethical codex of stockbrokers, possible ethical solutions in the field of financial instruments, and gives example of desirable ethical principles in financial trade with interest groups. The proposed solutions should serve as guide conduct to reduce the level of immorality, robbery, fraud, and bribery in the field of finance trading.