Payne a champion for ethics

INDUSTRY ADVOCACY- SPONSORED BY ALLAN GRAY

WINNER

Clare Payne - Founder/chief operating officer
The Banking and Finance Oath / Tobacco Free Portfolios

Clare Payne's unique focus on banking and finance ethics has helped her win Money Management and Super Review's Industry Advocacy Award.

The founder of the Banking and Finance Oath (BFO), and the Banking and Finance Industry Ethics Panel attributed her success to the fact that no one else is particularly focused on the issue.

The judges praised Payne's initiatives in developing and championing ethics in the industry both nationally and within the firm.

"The issue of consumer confidence and the ethical behaviour in the financial and wealth industries have been in question and her vision of building ethical programs has brought integrity to the industry," they said.

Payne designed and helped the BFO launch the Young Ambassador program, the BFO Elders program, the Like-Minded Program, and the 100% Committed program.

Along with this, Payne also teaches business ethics at Macquarie University and the University of Melbourne to mould the next generation into good ethical decision-makers.

Payne said the top three issues she has been championing in the space are ethics, trust, and integrity.

"The financial crisis put trust on the radar as the key thing that keeps the whole financial system alive. So it's gotten a lot easier; the hard thing is the industry is susceptible to wanting to quantify and dealing with numbers rather than dealing with the ethical principles," Payne said.

"The oath is really trying to get at individual accountability and trying to lift practices by acknowledging that organisations are made up of individuals."

Payne was joined in the category by finalist Katherine Ashby, of BT Financial Group, who was commended by the judges for her initiative to introduce education and technical programs to service the industry.

"Her expertise and influence have impacted both on her business, her colleagues and her clientele. She has developed a substantial program to assist in knowledge transfer and the integrity of the industry," the judges said.

FINALISTS

Katherine Ashby - Senior product technical manager
BT Financial Group

Julie Coates - Partner
PricewaterhouseCoopers

Deborah Kent - Financial adviser/director
Integra Financial Services

Tracey Sofra - Founding partner/financial planner
Sofcorp Financial Services