Finance and Social Responsibility: Beyond the Bottom Line | Desautels Faculty of Management

Описание: This full-day conference examines the role of ethics in the financial sector. Ethical finance seeks to foster a system wherein financial institutions and professionals act in the best interests of their clients and the broader community, promoting sustainable practices and contributing to economic and social wellbeing.

Panel 3 - Finance and Social Responsibility: Beyond the Bottom Line
Calls for greater social responsibility in finance have intensified, raising questions about what it means for financial institutions to serve the public good. This panel explores how responsibility is defined, practiced, and justified beyond regulatory compliance or shareholder returns. Focusing on finance’s ethical posture in public life, panelists will examine its impact on social cohesion, democratic integrity, and collective well-being. Topics include financial actors’ roles in public crises, the moral limits of profit-seeking, and tensions between fiduciary duty and broader societal obligations. Bringing together scholars, practitioners, and critical thinkers, the session probes foundational ethical questions and emerging frameworks such as ESG, impact investing, and stakeholder capitalism. The panel also explores how finance professionals navigate competing pressures from shareholders, regulators, and civil society, questioning whether socially responsible finance represents true transformation or well-marketed compromise.

Ultimately, this session examines the globally central role of finance in society: the values it reflects, the trust it requires, and the social contract it shapes . . . or fractures.

Panelists:
Jasmine Tsang, Deloitte Canada Risk Partner and Ethics Officer
Melanie Adams, Managing Director & Head of Responsible Investment, RBC Global Asset Management
Sebastien Betermier, Associate Professor, Finance, Desautels Faculty of Management
Moderator: Paul Beaumont, Assistant Professor, Finance, Desautels Faculty of Management

More on the conference:
https://www.mcgill.ca/desautels/initi...

Laidley Centre for Business Ethics and Equity (LCBEE):
https://www.mcgill.ca/desautels/initi...