Culture Audit in Financial Services

A highly useful travelogue written by acclaimed experts in an easy-going manner that nevertheless serves to deepen awareness and understanding. After a survey of concepts and how conduct regulation is evolving, Culture Audit opens a window on using behavioural science to frame 'better questions' and introduces straightforwardly the benefits of some advanced technology. These elements weave together to explain where thought leadership has been and points to areas for further exploration like purpose, individual character development and the excitement that awaits firms who are not quite prepared for their first earnest discussion of culture with a regulator.

Roger Miles has brought together a stellar group of experts in conduct risk and fashioned a unique resource for the financial services industry and beyond. The authors and Dr Miles himself have been there, done that and have the t-shirt when it comes to conduct risk management. Oozing with practical wisdom, this book brings concepts from psychology and behavioural science to a financial services audience, to help address the seemingly intractable challenge of workplace misconduct. Culture change programmes fail at least as often as they succeed, but Culture Audit contains many insights that will enhance the chances of success.
As a business school professor teaching post-experience, post-graduate programs, I'm often looking for material that is evidence-based but accessible; that avoids bland motherhood statements and excites interests; that presents solutions that are seen as feasible and not utopian. This book has all those qualities and I expect it will help the industry chart a new course, consistent with its recent aspirations. A must-have for financial services leaders and regulators, and those who aspire to such roles.

Culture Audit fills a welcome gap between procedural how to manuals which can be dull and conceptually empty, and academic research, which is often brilliant but difficult to translate into real organizational programs and initiatives. This book takes many of the best ideas out there from behavioral science, then sets them within a framework with action points making it genuinely useful for practitioners. The lively writing and provocative examples really help overcome the difficulty of making culture a practical consideration for companies without losing important nuances. This work deserves to make a big positive impact.

Just what the finance industry wants, and more importantly, what it needs. A definitive How to guide to understanding your firm's culture, its strengths and weaknesses, and, most importantly, how to systematically and thoroughly set about improving it throughout your workforce and firm. Packed with helpful real-life anecdotes from finance experts, academics' and regulators' perspectives, helpful history, insightful psychology, and pithy sidebars which neatly illustrate key points. A clear-sighted, up-to-the-minute view on progress made and what's left to do. This will long be seen as the magnum opus on this critical topic - and it is compelling reading at that. If the industry follows even half of the good advice here it will be in a much better place a few years from now.

I really like the multiple-author approach, and what a list of co-authors! There's huge value in just being able to read insights from this remarkable group of people all in one place. Their different perspectives throughout, and their evident sense of fun, make Culture Audit really engaging and thought-provoking. A set of 'Interlude' stories also brings the theory to life, such as the hugely enjoyable account of how a central bank supervisor went on to 'rebrand' an investment bank's compliance department as behaviour-aware - a mindset shift that would benefit many firms.
Culture Audit's view of the genesis of conduct regulation, and robust predictions for its future, ground our understanding of why it's now so vital for firms to focus on culture and behaviour. The book is always engaging - it's as if the reader is enjoying a chat with the authors - and thankfully avoids getting bogged down in regulatory small print. With so much still to be done to improve financial sector culture, here's a book which really will spark timely conversations in firms: importantly around purpose, psychological safety, diversity and inclusion. These are vital foundations for any firm to set out, then act on to start a lasting culture change. Culture Audit jump-starts these conversations in a friendly, understandable way. It's a great addition to the discourse.