Wall Street Banker Survey: 24% Believe They ‘Need’ To Break The Law

Not only do many Wall Street bankers break the law or fudge ethical guidelines, many of them outwardly admitted in a recent survey that they “need” to break the law in order to be successful in their line of work.

The survey asked 500 senior Wall Street executives to explain their business practices and 24% of them said unethical or illegal behavior was not only acceptable in their line of work, it has become necessary in order to earn Wall Street type money.

The survey was conducted by whistleblower law firm Labaton Sucharow.

In another answer 26% of bankers said they knew directly of such illegal behavior and 30% said they felt pressured by the industry to engage in bad or even illegal trading behavior.

When asked if they would engage in some type of insider trading if they knew they wouldn’t get caught 16% of Wall Street executives admitted they would take the insider information.

The biggest culprit appears to be how Wall Street bankers are paid, in the survey 30% of respondents said their compensation plans were setup in such a way that bending the rules has become a necessity.

In a statement regarding the survey’s findings a Labaton Sucharow executive said:

“When misconduct is common and accepted by financial services professionals, the integrity of our entire financial system is at risk.”

The survey comes on the heels of an industry wide probe that includes the likes of Citigroup Inc, HSBC Holdings PLC. Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and UBS AG.

Are you surprised by the vast number of Wall Street bankers who engage in unethical or illegal activities?