The CSR Minute: Citigroup Uses Ethicist to Guide Corporate Decision Making

Citigroup Uses Ethicist to Guide Corporate Decision Making

Following the financial meltdown of 2008, many steps have been taken to prevent a similar crisis, among them the Dodd-Frank bill and a red alert attitude at the Federal Reserve. Big bank Citigroup has come up with its own, innovative solution: a company ethicist. The position is filled by Dr. David Miller, a former banker turned theology student who is now a Princeton professor.

At Citibank, his role is to provide “advice and input to senior management” on issues of business practices and morality, reviewing projects, ideas, and locations where executives have concerns. Dr. Miller has proposed three principles as the basis for ethical decision-making: is a practice right, good and fitting, an approach influenced by Plato and Aristotle.

 The company has adapted those principles into its own terms: is it in our clients’ interest, does it create economic value, and is it systematically responsible? As a mission statement to guide a responsible business, Citigroups’ values proposition sets a high bar. I’m John Howell for 3BL Media.