The DMA Consulting Group

Code of Ethics
 

The DMA Consulting Group has been providing consulting and operations services to financial services clients since 1992. We believe we have certain ethical obligations to our clients, regardless of the nature of the engagement. Here, we summarize those obligations, which guide our activities and client engagements.
 

• We will serve our clients with integrity, competence, and objectivity. This means that we will refrain from providing clients with inappropriate or misleading information or provide services that are more self-serving than address their needs. Where we believe we lack the knowledge or skills to address a client need, problem, or objective we will say so and suggest other professionals or firms who/that can. We will always seek to tell our clients what we think, not what they may want to hear, even if it means harming or terminating the engagement. If we err, we will let the client know upon discovery, even if it means harming or terminating the engagement. We believe such admissions serve rather than harm our engagements and give our clients confidence that we operate from integrity and with a focus on their interests.
   

• We will keep client information and records of client engagements confidential and will use confidential client information only with the client’s permission.
   

• We will not take advantage of confidential client information for ourselves or other clients. We will use the general knowledge gained from our client work to better perform our services for others and for the development of our associates and principals, which is one of the principal ways consultancies add value within the various business ecosystems they serve.
   

• We will not allow conflicts of interest which provide a competitive advantage to one client through our use of confidential information from another client who is a direct competitor without the client’s permission.
   

• We will never reveal bona fide trade secrets without the express written approval of our clients’ senior managements and attorneys.
   

• We will accept only engagements for which we are qualified by our experience, education, qualifications, and competence unless the client is comfortable with some learning curve on our part as we tackle the requirements of an engagement’s subject matter. We don’t presume to “know it all,” and there will always be types of products, services, and business operations with which we may have only limited familiarity.
   

• We will assign staff to client engagements in accordance with their experience, knowledge, and expertise.
   

• We will immediately acknowledge any influences on our objectivity to our clients and will offer to withdraw from a consulting engagement when our objectivity or integrity may be materially impaired.
   

• We will agree independently and in advance on the basis for our fees and expenses and will charge fees and expenses that are reasonable, legitimate, and commensurate with the services we deliver, the knowledge, skills and experience deployed, and the responsibility we accept.
   

• We will disclose to our clients in advance any fees or commissions that we will receive for equipment, supplies, or services we recommend to our clients.
   

• We will respect the intellectual property rights of our clients and others and will not knowingly use proprietary information or methodologies without permission.
   

• We will not promote our services in a deceptive manner and will not misrepresent the consulting profession, which, at its best, can be a noble calling that helps client management teams achieve success for their stakeholders.
   

• We will encourage our clients to abide by the rules of the road of their respective industries (banking, investment management, securities, etc.) and to create policies and procedures that assist in that effort and that are appropriate to and for their businesses.
   

• We will encourage our clients to commit to goals of diversity and inclusion (in terms of “race,” gender, sex, faith commitment, national origin, sexual orientation, and disability) and to conduct their businesses in ways that do not discriminate invidiously against any group or demographic, whether in hiring, employee advancement, contracting, the location of offices, or in the provision or sale of investment products and services.
   

• We review and make every reasonable effort to align our conduct and practices with the UN Global Compact, and encourage our clients to do the same, in view of their own objectives, strategies, and capacities.
   

• We review and make every reasonable effort to align our conduct and practices with the UN Principles of Responsible Investment, and encourage our clients to do the same, in view of their own objectives, strategies, and capacities.
   

• We pledge to encourage our clients to review the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate Related Disclosures, and to implement appropriate disclosures in public filings as appropriate to their businesses.
   

• We will encourage our clients to avoid activities designed or intended to compromise government officials and corporate officers in ways that run counter to applicable anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws in their home countries and abroad.
  
  
  Sources for this Code: The Princeton Consultancy; The United Nations’ Principles of Responsible Investment; the UN Global Compact; Task Force on Climate Related Disclosures; The Global Impact Investing Network; The United Nations Development Goals; The Securities and Exchange Commission.