Quants and business ethics

[MNRC]

I think this might be a sensitive topic, but after reading "The Big Short" and "Flash Boys", I became more concerned about business ethics in the industry. While I realize that these books may be grossly sensationalized, intentionally portraying the financial industry in a negative light, and ignoring the responsibility of consumers themselves in handling money responsibly, I was wondering if there are still fairly "honest" ways to make money as a quant? By "honest" I mean not helping to package CDOs and watching ratings agencies falsely label them AAA and selling them to unsuspecting pension funds... I don't think front-running is right (of course, it's illegal) but it's nothing like the guilt of knowing a pension fund bought these bad securities and caused people to lose their hard-earned retirement savings. Once again, I know this is a sensitive topic, but was wondering if, as a quant, one can avoid being involved in this kind of stuff. I love reading and following the markets, computer science, and math and want to work in this industry without having to feel bad about anything I am (inadvertently) doing.

 

[Ken Abbott]

No matter what you do, you will be faced with ethical choices; it's unavoidable. Just do the right thing. I've been in the business for over 30 years and I haven't done anything about which I wouldn't be able to tell my mother.