Operation Hope unethical partnership decision with Union Bank and Nix Essay

Operation Hope unethical partnership decision with Union Bank and Nix Check Cashing - Essay Example Union Bank of California has entered in to partnership with Operation Hope which is a non-profit making organization and also Nix Check Cashing to offer financial services to low-income households. Many residents have low incomes thus consider savings-oriented services less attractive. Bryant of Operation Hope is initially reluctant to join the Union/Nix ownership model that includes financial literacy and market opportunities for Union Bank. Surprisingly, Operation Hope becomes the first non-governmental organization to sell 40 percent of its Hope Center in Willowbrook to a financial institution. This partnership links a bank which provides high interest payday loans to Operation Hope that is supposed to safeguard the welfare of the community b y providing services to low income households. The banking officers are reluctant to offer short term loans. The partnership may expose customer privacy information since Union Bank may share customer confidential information with Nix and Ope ration Hope. Nix employees are inefficient and have to give a 10 day waiting period before processing the loans. According to Union Bank, the aim of the partnership is to create 6,000 new bank customers and provide 750,000 ATM transactions (Bradley 7). Though from the Union Bank should comply with 1977 community Reinvestment Act by meeting the credit needs of communities. Nix alliance has compromised the role of Operation Hope since it cannot play a public watchdog role while it is a partner to the partnership. The construction of the partnership is aimed at ensuring profitability and success of Union Bank and Nix Check Cashing. The partnership agreement between the three institutions is unethical. The partnership is geared at increasing the profitability of Union Bank and meeting regulatory requirements like Community Reinvestment Act which requires Union Bank to offer services to communities (Bradley 7). Virtue ethics According to virtue ethics, the current state of affairs is une thical since it is not guided by ethical virtues. The virtues of Operation Hope management require them to act in a virtuous manner and act as community watchdog. Operation Hope as a non-profit institution should not enter in to a partnership which seeks to exploit the local low income households by providing expensive financial services. Operation hope should have avoided a partnership that has the potential of exposing private customer information and contravening human dignity virtues. In order to safeguard community welfare, Operation Hope should display virtues such as integrity, compassion, wisdom and courage and reject any partnership that seeks to provide expensive loans to low income households. According to Aristotle, the virtue ethics will consist of the mean between the extremes of excess and deficiency which are vices but some actions have no extremes like murder since it is virtuously wrong (Bowie 87). According to Aristotle, pleasure will impede ethical choices. For i nstance, the management of Operation Hope has acted with fear in order to uphold the partnership instead of safeguarding the community welfare. Union Bank is also unethical in its decision to partner with Nix and Operation Hope since its main objective is to adhere to requirements of Community Reinvestment Act and increase market share and profitability and not to provide the cheap loans required by the low income households. Union Bank decision is unethical since it only wants to increase market share at the expense of the society welfare. The decision of Operation Hope to join the partnership has been motivated by the pleasure of being associated with Union Bank which is a reputable Wall Street institution and Nix which is well known for cashing services. The partnership is unethical since it only promotes profit interests of Union Bank shareholders and not common interests of the low income ho