General Studies · Business Ethics and Decision Making

An employee is asked by a highly valued corporate client to slightly backdate a loan application to qualify for a lower interest rate that recently expired. The client threatens to move all their business to a competitor if the request is denied. Regarding the principle of 'Doing the Right Thing': I. The employee should backdate the application because the potential loss of a large client outweighs the minor violation of policy, maximizing short-term organizational benefit. II. The 'Right Thing' is to adhere to the absolute duty of Truthfulness and Compliance, as a violation, even minor, undermines the governance framework of lending. III. The employee should report the threat and the request to the compliance and ethics officer to ensure the response is guided by the bank's core values, not by client pressure. Which of the above statements represent the most ethically sound courses of action?