Honesty in Trust Administration
An excerpt from the beginning of the article is below:
Integrity is the quality of possessing and steadfastly adhering to high moral principles or professional standards. There are lots of smart people in the world. They greatly outnumber persons of integrity. All of us can tell tales about a lack of integrity. We have all heard stories.
Like leadership, integrity can be taught but it is a difficult thing to steadfastly embrace. It is hard for the manager of a trust division to wear the mantle of integrity while under pressure from many directions. Integrity is rarely tested in a major way. Usually the manager’s integrity is nibbled at by seemingly small matters.
It is not unusual for a super-aggressive, highly admired and well-connected employee to demand to be paid for a major referral when the trust manager knows that the person has greatly exaggerated his participation in the process to the point that the basis for his claim is a lie. Let’s complicate the manager’s dilemma by assuming that the referrer has the strong endorsement and support of a bank vice-chairperson. Key members of the manager’s staff know that the claimant is a chronic prevaricator who is known to steal credit for the accomplishments of others and who has bullied questionable payments through the system more than once.
There are some who would consider this a minor matter that any adroit manager can finesse. They would argue that discretion is the better part of valor; therefore, the cleanest solution is to give in and pay. The manager with integrity cannot ignore the fact that the referrer is attempting to steal from the bank. At worst, the sales person is demanding that the manager assist him in committing fraud. At the very least, the compliant manager is skating along the edge of misprision.