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symmetry plays an important role here, it refers to the transaction where one party has more or superior information compared to the other party in the transaction. This creates an environment which is unethical in nature because the party with the superior information is tempted to take advantage of the ignorance of the other party. There are two main problems involved here- adverse selection (immoral behaviour which takes advantage of asymmetric information before a transaction) and moral hazard (immoral behaviour which takes advantage of asymmetric information after a transaction). The practice is very rampant in the financial markets due to the innate presence of ‘Greed’ and ‘Fear’.

So it is evident that the platform for misconduct in the financial markets is readily available due to the system structuring. But the intriguing aspect is about the individuals who rampantly indulge in these acts with the complete realisation of the actions being unethical. Such a huge system is bound to be present with loopholes for participants to exploit, but it is the action of the individuals involved in the system which leads to the decay in the system. Albeit there is huge ethical conduct machinery present to govern the operational working of the financial system, the temptation to surrender to the charm of exponential wealth creation, there is breach in the conduct. And when in the system there is a massive presence of individuals with the similar temptation, it leads to a system that is hollow and a nemesis for the social welfare of the people, as was evident in the massive failure of the financial markets in 2008. The financial system breakdown can be understood utilising western modernist ethical theories. Consequentialist theories base moral judgement on the outcome of a certain action. If the outcomes are desirable, then the action in question is morally right; if the outcomes of the action are not desirable, the action is morally wrong. The moral judgement in these consequentialist theories is thus based on the intended outcomes, the aims, or the goals of a certain action (Crane & Matten, 2010). There are two main consequentialist theories- egoism and utilitarianism. The relevant theory for discussing the topic is Egoism. It is one of the oldest philosophical ideas which focus on the outcomes for the decision maker and is defined as follows.

Following the theory of egoism, an action is morally right if the decision-maker freely decides in order to pursue either their (short-term) desires or their (long-term) interest (Crane & Matten, 2010).

Egoism has two variants, descriptive or normative. The descriptive (or positive) variant conceives egoism as a factual description of human affairs. That is, people are motivated by their own interests and desires, and they cannot be described otherwise. The normative variant proposes that people should be so motivated, regardless of what presently motivates their behaviour.

The descriptive egoist describes human nature as being completely self-centered and self-motivated. In the stronger format, it asserts that people will act in their own interests under normal circumstances, and, cannot but act in their own interests, even though they may disguise their innate motivation with reference to helping others or doing their duty. The other variant of egoism is normative in that it stipulates the agent ought to promote the self above other