The CEO of the UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) says it’s crucial to address the role culture and ethics play in shaping corporate behaviour and decision-making.

Hector Sants told an address to the country’s financial leaders in London last week that it will be hard to prevent a rerun of the global financial crisis if ethics in the financial system are not addressed.

The FSA chief says those who manage financial institutions should be held responsible for them, as well as for restoring trust between the financial sector and the public.

He told the conference there is also a legitimate role for a regulator to play in creating the right culture which must “encourage individuals to make appropriate judgements”.

“At all times we want an institution to act with integrity,” he said. “The regulator’s focus should therefore be on what an unacceptable culture looks like and what outcomes that drives.

“It should not be on defining the culture itself.”