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Rocket Bank You are Roy Jordan

Sociology

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Rocket Bank
You are Roy Jordan. You work in the Singapore office of Rocket Bank - one of the biggest and 
oldest banks in the world. The economy in much of the world has been doing poorly and the 
earnings of most banks are very low at the moment. Rocket Bank has been exceptional in that it 
has done very well in difficult times and senior management has been receiving glowing write-
ups in international business magazines.
As the chief accountant for the Singapore office, you've recently come across information 
suggesting that most of Rocket Bank's enormous international profit is coming from your small 
branch. This is disturbing because the main activity in your branch is arbitraging the Singapore 
and Hong Kong stock exchanges. This means that anytime the same company's stock is listed on 
both exchanges at different prices, your group buys at the low price and immediately resells on 
the other exchange at the high price. Price differences are typically tiny, and so profit on this 
activity is very low - but there is almost no risk involved for the bank.
It has occurred to you that maybe the division was earning much larger returns because instead 
of arbitraging stocks between the two exchanges, depositors' money was invested in particular 
stocks. This would yield substantial profit in recent years because the companies listed on local 
stock exchanges have been doing very well even as the rest of the world has done poorly. It is 
also a very risky strategy, and if the stock values go down the bank could lose massive amounts 
of money. It has also occurred to you that the only person who could do this without general 
awareness is division chief (and your boss), Lue King.
You and the other employees at the Singapore branch have been enjoying substantial bonuses 
due to the branch's unusually profitable experience. If you report your suspicions to Rocket 
Corporate offices, it will cause an investigation to begin that would likely lead to many people 
(including your boss) getting fired—if it turns out that your suspicions are correct. Of course, if 
your suspicions are not correct, you will have endangered the jobs and pay of your colleagues, 
and likely be under substantial pressure from Lue King.
Should you report your suspicions to the corporate office? Write an essay concerning the best 
ethical choice for Roy Jordan using both of the following approaches developed in class:
1. Utilitarian Theory
2. Front Page Test