You are providing advice to an overseas client in the financial services space who would like to launch a new product in the Australian market. But how the financial services law applies to the company is vague.
If you interpret the law one way, the company will be able to launch the product sooner and have less ongoing obligations to meet. This will translate into quicker profit in the short term and saved outgoing expenses (maximising shareholder value). But if you interpret the law another way, the company will need to meet additional requirements and set up additional processes before it launches the product. The additional processes and requirements are designed to increase consumer protections and would mean the company takes additional measures to protect customers when offering them its product. However, this would arguably decrease shareholder value as the additional processes and requirements would mean increased company expenses.
The client has made it clear that customer satisfaction is their driver.
What should you do?
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