A Bank Stealing Your Business Idea Is An Immoral Corporate Theft And Unethical - The Case Of SG SSB

This is how the story goes. A business idea is proposed to financial institutions in Ghana, some responded inviting you for meetings and after a while the trail goes cold. Some institutions go to the extent of saying your idea will never work in Ghana. Yet, sometime in future your idea is being implemented by one of the institutions directly or through their surrogate front men/henchmen without the decency of seeking your permission whatsoever or paying for the idea. I am sure many of our citizens have been victims or heard of such practices; if not you have heard it now. SG SSB is one such institution blatantly engaging in such act, and it is time this nonsense stopped. Such act of corporate theft does kill innovation, such act retards thinking outside the box and by default inhibit development of a nation. SG SSB has stolen an idea sent to the bank in 2008 called Bank in a Box and implemented as Spot Banking in 2010; one of which is erected at the Osu Total filling station opposite Zain's office.

No wonder this nation produces nothing of value to the point where toothpicks are imported; people have just given up on thinking outside the box to develop new businesses. It's all the fault of idea stealing banks such as SG SSB, citizens of this country have given up considering banks will not help startups nor established businesses with credit lines yet steal the little others have by way of ideas. What SG SSB has done is nothing more than corporate/business theft pure and simple. Whether it's the theft of client funds or theft of ideas corporate theft is a serious crime and in some jurisdictions such as EU where the parent company is based can cost millions in compensation and retards progress (pursuing Société Générale – SG and/or Société Générale Social Security Bank – SG SSB in the EU and/or Ghana courts is still an option). Intellectual property theft is dissimilar to theft of physical property; instead it involves stealing or misusing proprietary information of a company (or person) who owns and/or shares. Forms of intellectual property include copyrights (protecting written material, audio or video recordings, computer code etc), trademarks (protecting company name, product name, logo, slogan, or package design etc), trade secrets (like a secret food recipe), and patents (protects inventions or discoveries, like chemical composites, electronic designs etc).

There is no other industry where ethics would be more important than in banking, because financial institutions are such essential part of an entire national and world economy, and their trustworthiness has staid corollary for countless individuals and institutions. Banks do depend entirely on trust to sustain their business; a bank that shows not to be trustworthy should be rejected by customers and be punished very severely by the courts should a case be brought against it. If a bank cannot be ethical but blatantly steal a business idea sent it; what do customers of such a bank think can and will happen to their deposits and other investments entrusted to such bank? Business ethics also known as corporate ethics is a form of applied ethics that examines ethical principles and morals that arise in a business environment. It applies to all aspects of business conduct and is relevant to the conduct of individuals as employees of the business and business organizations as a whole. Applied ethics in the words of Brenda Almond, of the Society for Applied Philosophy is "the philosophical examination, from a moral standpoint, of particular issues in private and public life that are matters of moral judgment". Promoting ethics in the workplace does give internal customers (employees) a sense of worth and trust that can help the business and employees succeed. Sadly in Ghana it has been a case of professionals using their brands and entrusted information to exploit clients both internal and external.

The external client (customers) places trust in the professional in this case a bank (SG SSB) on the basis that there will be a mutual benefit to both parties (bank and customer) yet as it turns out SG SSB has no ethics and goes ahead to steal an idea to the detriment of the one providing the idea. SG SSB by its actions is forcing staff to lie for company in this case of theft; saying their MD already had that idea on the drawing board. This is a pack of falsehood and have on record that at no time did SG SSB, its MD, management or staff have any such idea. This is pure corporate theft and the quicker the bank accepts and atone for its sins the better; because this issue will just not disappear, it will be pursued to a logical conclusion. To customers I say this, if employees of SG SSB are being encouraged or forced to prevaricate for the business, and indulge in theft of ideas what do you think such employees will do with your financial information? There is always a possibility employees could be influenced by others to hand over your financial data and ideas to them for whatever reason it might be. “Corporate Ethics Isn't About Rules; It's About Honesty”

Companies do have ethical responsibility and are not protected by limited liability from the consequences of their actions. A company's record and the perception of its ethics affect its reputation and ensure long term success or failure. In developed economies of the world the financial community has a history of placing moral considerations above legal or opportunistic expedients; sadly it is the opposite in Ghana as exhibited by SG SSB. Due to the high standards of ethics expected in banking Standard Charted Bank has what is believed to be the world's highest standards in banking, and applies those standards in same way in every market it operates. Developed nations and some developing nations have laws to protect ideas registered or not, from unethical predators such as SG SSG; it is the job of the central government and judiciary to punish violators and warn others through very high punitive damages that serve as deterrent. When you hear of millions being demanded by accusers and paid as punitive damages imposed by courts in EU and USA it is so to serve as a warning to others. It is a way of protecting small people and SMEs from larger corporations/businesses. This is one of the reasons why the USA has been the land of possibilities and leading the world in innovation. Big businesses cannot steal ideas of others and get away with it. SG SSB is so unethical and its management lacking innovative thinkers it did not even mask the idea in any way with its MD using the original name bank in a box given the concept during an interview with Joy FM as their internally developed idea. SG SSB later changed the concept name to Spot banking hoping it will be the end of the matter. Such corporate theft is a clear sign of a failed leadership that lacks ideas heading a failing brand in a market that competition is increasing by the day. Sorry SG SSB, people who share ideas with you are not as daft as you hope; people who share ideas with you do have a clear idea of when their efforts have been compromised.

SG SSB has been a failing brand for a while now and rather than addressing by uprooting issues such as very bad customer services it rather pulls a fast one by stealing an idea to help boost sales and increase brand visibility. I implore you to visit the Tudu – Accra branch to have a taste of what real bad customer service feels like; just pray it's the same manager the branch had as in 2008 to witness bad customer service at its best; alternatively you can try its offices at the Kumasi central market (I have experienced both). SG SSB in my view is damaged goods; it is a tarnish brand that has no ideas to help get it out of its slumber other than stealing ideas of others. The time has come for us customers, citizen and nation to start rejecting unethical business behavior operating in Ghana; such unethical acts especially in the financial sector does make borrowing expensive for us all, such unethical financial institutions kill other businesses that might have gone on to create jobs, such unethical businesses kill innovation, such unethical businesses create tarnished image for employees and such unethical business are not worth investing in. There are many options for customers these days in the field of banking and customers of unethical banks must immediately move their funds elsewhere, and for those investing in shares of the likes of SG SSB must take steps to dump those shares. An unethical bank always has the potential to manipulate its share price therefore putting your money at risk and unethical behavior can affect the brand and its share value, so dump it before it happens.

(Unethical behavior by businesses worsens employee fraud, unethical behavior does harms sales, unethical behavior harms stock price, unethical behavior worsens the risks from scandal, unethical behavior worsens productivity, unethical behavior worsens efficiency, unethical behavior worsens retention and recruiting, unethical behavior especially worsens performance of the highly skilled and unethical behavior worsens sabotaging behavior). Source: Josephson Institute of Ethics.

This write up is the first but surely not the last, stay tuned. You invited to post comments on my Facebook wall. Search for UNETHICAL SG-SSB on facebook or copy and past the link below in you browser.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001223350688&v=wall#!/profile.php?id=100001223350688&v=wall

   Comments3