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Accountancy has highest job satisfaction

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14th Nov 2014
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As banks face investigation for rigging currency markets will some bankers switch careers to accountancy? New research suggests so.

When financial services workers were asked which industry they thought they would offer them the highest job satisfaction, 32% of people working in financial services (including those working in banking and fund management) said professional services – including accountancy and law.  Only 9% questioned by Radstad, a recruiter, said they thought financial services was the most fulfilling career.

The British public said that a career in health or care would be the most professionally fulfilling.  Just four per cent said financial services would be the most fulfilling career; seven per cent said professional services.

The research comes as banks’ reputation takes another battering – this time over alleged rigging of foreign-exchange markets.

In the past few weeks, HSBC, RBS and Barclays have set aside hundreds of millions of pounds as part on investigation into alleged rigging of currency markets, reports said.

On Wednesday, six banks were collectively fined £2.6bn by UK and US regulators over their traders' attempted manipulation of foreign exchange rates, the BBC reported.

HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Swiss bank UBS and US banks JP Morgan Chase, Citibank and Bank of America have all been fined.

There is a separate probe into Barclays.

Barclays will not be eligible for the 30% discount on the fines handed to its rivals in exchange for settling early because it did not participate in the settlement with US and UK regulators, The Guardian reported.

Iain Coke, head of ICAEW’s financial services faculty, said punishing the guilt isn’t enough.

“The fact that this sort of behaviour was still going on after the LIBOR scandal of 2012, and the banks’ subsequent efforts to root out malpractice, shows how far we have to travel in changing the culture of financial services. Just punishing the wrongdoers is not enough.

“Trust underpins confidence in markets and in business, and if we are to restore that vital public trust we need a wholesale paradigm shift so ethics and integrity are embedded in financial services. Ultimately we need to have a banking sector that does not ask itself ‘what is legal?’ but ‘what is the right thing to do?’

Most Accounting WEB subscribers had little sympathy with the banks, although in an Any Answers post maslims said that the latest fines show that regulation often doesn't work.  “Regulate against banks doing one thing, they'll do something else. It's a continual game, and the regulators are always a few steps behind.”

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