In contrast, sectors providing social services including health, education and charities had strongly positive ratings, representing high levels of trust in the community. Politicians didn't fare well on the survey. Credit:Justin McManus The financial sector has faced growing political scrutiny after a run of scandals in recent years, and the report gave this part of the economy an ethics index score of -5, indicating people thought it was neither ethical not unethical. Executive salaries and bonuses were seen as a key influence on ethical conduct in finance, a point that was emphasised by Australian Securities and Investments Commission chair, Greg Medcraft. "Clearly [remuneration] is a driver of behaviour. In some industries it drives behaviour more than others, and banking is probably one where clearly, compensation is a very important driver of behaviour," Mr Medcraft said.

The survey was compiled by asking consumers to rate how ethical they believed various occupations, organisations and sectors to be. The scores represent the percentage of people who believed each job or sector to be ethical, minus the percentage who believed they were unethical. Banks were hit particularly hard in US trade and that selling carried through to the Australian financial sector on Wednesday. Credit:Paul Rovere The corporate sector - a broad grouping including senior executives, listed companies and big foreign firms - had the second-lowest rating on the index with a reading of -3. Media had a marginally positive rating of +1, with the ABC seen as the most ethical media platform, followed by free-to-air television and radio. The education sector was seen as the most ethical.

An apple for the teachers The education sector was seen as the most ethical, with a score of 80, closely followed by healthcare on 69, and charities and not-for profit organisations, on 60. Within these broad ratings of entire sectors of the economy, the survey also rated specific occupations. State and federal politicians had low ratings of -33, real estate agents were not much better with -27, while journalists' ratings were also negative, at -12. Despite the poor view of ethics across the entire finance sector, specific occupations within finance did not rate as badly. Mortgage brokers had a score of -1, financial planners had a score of 7, and accountants had a score of 30.

Chief executives, chairmen and directors of foreign companies all had negative scores. "The message from the index is clear," said the chief executive of the Governance Institute, Steven Burrell. "Boards and the C-suite need to lift their game." "The role of leadership in promoting ethical conduct in the business sector is viewed as crucial by 82 per cent of Australians, and these leaders are seen to have the key role in influencing ethical behaviour, but neither they nor their organisations are perceived to be very ethical." QBE Group's chief executive, John Neal, said he was not surprised to see his industry - insurance - attract low ethical scores, saying insurers could improve by providing simpler policies that were more easily understood by the public. "Every time an insurer doesn't pay a claim due to a strict interpretation of the policy terms, or a personal injury claim that is subject to surveillance, some members of the public will judge an insurer to be operating unethically," said Mr Neal, also speaking at the report's launch.

ASIC's Mr Medcraft has been leading a push for an improvement in corporate culture, especially within finance, where the regulator alleges three of the country's big banks rigged one of the most important interest rates in the economy. Mr Medcraft said that in the age of social media, companies needed to apply the "front page test" to the behaviour of staff. "How do you think it'll look on the front page if it's discovered what we're doing? Because the risk is, these days, it could become public, and if it does become public, how would you feel about it? That's probably a pretty good rule."