Ethics and moral standards are as crucial to finance as ever

Despite the twists and turns of history, some things remain the same – an important lesson that can be found in the work of Émile Zola. His novel L’Argent shows how an erosion of moral standards can be lethal to individuals, the institutions they run, and the whole of society, writes Vincent Kaminski

Vincent Kaminski

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.¹ The more things change, the more they stay the same. This was the conclusion I reached on rereading the book L'Argent by Émile Zola. When I read the book for the first time 35 years ago, I was interested mostly in the plot, based on a financial scandal that happened in France in 1882: the collapse of l'Union Générale, the bank established in 1875 and managed by Paul Eugène Bontoux, a man of questionable moral standards.

The fictional character of L