Ethics in Finance - Stelling Minnis

Introduction

The case study Stelling Minnis deals with a company offering financial services. Originally, Alexander Stelling founded a stockbroking business that eventually entered into a joint venture, and then led to the development of a small commercial bank. After encountering several problems, the company was taken over by the Minnis Group which was operating in the same area of stockbroking. Later on, the Minnis Group was split up into two parts. The Stelling arm was divested as a result of an MBO taken over by a group of employees. Since 1992, the company is located in Jersey, Grand Cayman, Douglas Isle of Man, London and New York and serves his clientele from all over the world.

The company covers three areas of expertise. The equities, based in Jersey and New York, provides advice on share transactions. Fund management, located at the office in Douglas Isle of Man, manages small to medium corporate client portfolios. Custody and services covers its clients with different services ranging from company registration to management consultancy to trade finance and tax.

The company culture is based on the idea of ‘family’ ethos which guides the staff’s behaviour as well as a high degree of loyalty and the practicing of “short and sharp” discipline. Another notable aspect of the firm is its designated self-employed status of each employee.

Furthermore, in the text are several ethical or unethical actions mentioned which makes identification of the firm as an ethical one quite difficult. Several internal as well as external processes took place which have to be clarified in order to conduct the positioning.

Question 1

Identify the key stakeholders to the business of Stelling Minnis. How much power does each group have? And how vulnerable will they be if the business suffers serious reverses?

Certainly, there are more stakeholders involved, but having only access to the information given in the case study; we assume the following groups as the most relevant...