"Foreword: Research handbook on law and ethics in banking and finance" [2019] ELECD 1548; in Russo, A. Costanza; Lastra, M. Rosa; Blair, William (eds), "Research Handbook on Law and Ethics in Banking and Finance" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019) xiii

Book Title: Research Handbook on Law and Ethics in Banking and Finance

Editor(s): Russo, A. Costanza; Lastra, M. Rosa; Blair, William

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Section Title: Foreword: Research handbook on law and ethics in banking and finance

Number of pages: 2

Extract:

Foreword: Research handbook on law and ethics in
banking and finance
Andrew Bailey

It is a great pleasure to be able to make a small contribution to such an important piece of work.
I am grateful to the contributors, not just for their work on this volume but more broadly for the
leadership they show in such an important field. Unfortunately, we can say this with so much
more certainty and passion having witnessed in the global financial crisis what can go wrong.
As a financial regulator, I am all too aware that we cannot place our faith in, and reliance on,
contractual relationships alone. The same goes for statutory law: on its own, it is not enough.
There are a number of reasons underpinning this state of affairs. Pure reliance on contracts
flowing from statute does not deal well with the unequal distribution of power and influence.
We have to recognise that many people in any society are vulnerable. Also, the application of
contracts can often be opaque, and can thereby create an imbalance of power and influence,
and harm to one or more parties.
So, it is not surprising that from at least the time of Ancient Greece, ethics have stood along-
side jurisprudence, and there has been a continuous need to infuse the more abstract concepts
of law with ethics. The system conveys both rights and duties, and we have to recognise and
pursue the latter in order to uphold the former.
But history tells us that ...