Behavior of a thief

It is quite common for a bank to impose dubious charges and fees on unsuspecting customers, such as a hefty fee for renewal of a credit card, or a fee for late payment. When the customer finds out about the charge and protests, the bank waives these charges.

The bank hopes to earn the hefty fees from customers who did not notice the charges and did not protest. This is a behavior similar to a thief. It is now quite common for respectable institutions to engage in this type of dubious behavior in the pursuit of greed and profit. Integrity, honesty and ethics have gone through the door!

I wish to send this message to our business corporations to be true to their statement on corporate social responsibility and to act honorably and make an honest profit, not by adopting behavior that is similar to theft.

I also ask our regulators and legislators to step forward and do their duty in upholding integrity and honest behavior in our society. Do not pretend that these bad behaviors can be left to be sorted out by the market. Even the USA, that has promoted the concept of the free market, has now decided that legislation is necessary to control the bad behavior.

Tan Kin Lian