Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, 1994, Page 20
God’s Company: New Age Ethics and
the Bank of Credit and Commerce International
Dr. Paul Heelas
Department of Religious Studies
University of Lancaster, England
Abstract
The New Age movement, which is tied to the monist tradition of the East, is
characterized by an expressive style of ethical evaluation, which, in contrast to the
authoritative mode that depends on external prescriptions and proscriptions, looks
within the person for wisdom because God is believed to lie within each person. The
scandals and financial downfall of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International is
attributed in large part to the consequences of this expressive ethic operating within
the business world. “Management by intuition” resulted in a relative absence of
formal controls and accountability systems, which certain managers exploited for
personal financial gain. A question is raised about the possible long-term
consequences of this expressive ethic for India, where Human Resource Development
is increasingly formulated in terms of the expressive ethic.
It might seem extraordinary that this infamous bank has anything to do with New Age values.
Before showing that this is indeed the case and, furthermore, that such values and ethical
“structuring” have almost certainly played a major role in the bank‟s downfall--I pave the way
by introducing the distinctive style of ethical evaluation which reigns within the New Age
“movement” of the contemporary West and elsewhere.
New Age Ethicality
The term “styles of ethical evaluation” is taken from Steven Tipton (1982), who constructs a
typology of different ways of obtaining moral decisions. (The typology, it can be noted, is only
contingently related to the particular context of what might be right or wrong.)
The expressive style is of immediate concern. In contrast to the authoritative mode, where
moral decisions are made in terms of the commandments of external authority sources, such
as the traditional Christian (that is, theistic) God, the expressive mode entails looking within
for wisdom. An act is right, as Tipton puts it, because it is “the most ...honest expression of
one‟s self” (1982, p. 283). In contrast to the utilitarian mode, which also has an individualistic
foundationalism, the expressive style is not simply informed by what the agent might happen
to want. An act is not right merely because it satisfies whatever the agent feels like having
an act is right only when it is informed by the truth that supposedly lies within. And this might
not be the same act as that which is sought by the “superficial” or utilitarian mode of being.
The expressive ethic is central to the New Age precisely because the key belief of this
“movement” is that God, or that which is perfect, lies within us all. The idea is that we have
been contaminated by external sources of authority--our parents, our teachers, the capitalist
system, and so on. Since these external inputs have let us down, preventing us from realizing
our true potential, we must organize our lives by finding out our true nature, then acting
accordingly. In short, being grounded in the true Self, the expressive ethic supposedly
provides the sole basis for valid moral life. Externally grounded ethicality, including what the
socially contaminated utilitarian aspect of the person might demand, is rejected on the
grounds that this source is divorced from the natural wisdom that lies within.

Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, 1994, Page 21
To illustrate the ethic, consider a song written by one of the leading exponents of the New
Age counterculture of the later 1960s, namely Bob Dylan. There is a clear shift away from
external authority:
Trust yourself/Trust yourself to do the things that only you know best/Trust
yourself/Trust yourself to do what‟s right and not be second guessed/Don‟t trust me
to show you beauty when beauty may only turn to rust/If you need somebody you
can trust/Trust yourself
Or consider an illustration taken from a rather different setting, namely a volume designed to
help spread the message that the New Age is good for managers. Roger Evans and Peter
Russell wax lyrical about the expressive ethic, discussed in connection with what they call “the
voice within”:
[It is] that part of us that tries to tell us what is best. It is the inner knowing that
tries to speak to us in our dreams. It is the intuition that leads us to call a friend at
night at the right time ...it is this willingness to listen to our own inner worlds that is
the mark of the creative manager. (1989, p. 153)
Finally, by way of introducing the ethic, it is important to note that it is by no means limited to
the contemporary New Age. It is found in all those great religious traditions which have
monistic (Self as God) tendencies. For example, Arthur Waley, commenting on the second
chapter of the Tao te Ching, writes that “the Sage avoids all positive action, working only
through the “power” of the Tao...” (1977, p. 144) and Julian Baldick, discussing the works of
Tustari, one of the founders of Sufi doctrine, states:
The light of direct knowledge, which is in a man‟s heart, is clearly related to that of
faith. The light of faith enables men to read otherwise invisible lines written in their
hearts before their creation. (1989, p. 39)
A New Age Bank
If the contemporary New Age in the West is characterized by its monistic self-religiosity, then
monistically oriented great traditions (Taoist, Sufi, Hindu, etc.) are themselves akin to the
“New Age” in character. Indeed, in India today, for example, traditional Hindu spirituality is
being reworked in terms of Western New Age themes, themes which have themselves been
largely derived from the East. The result is New Age Hinduism. Much the same considerations
explain why it is possible to ascribe the term “New Age” to the Bank of Credit and Commerce
International (BCCI).
BCCI was founded in 1972 by a Pakistani financier, Agha Hasan Abedi, a man who has been
described as a “self-professed poet and mystic.” (There are some indications that leading
figures have been influenced by the Sufi tradition, as well as, more recently, Findhorn-related
ideas.) According to Abedi‟s grand design, the bank would “belong” to the countries of the
Third World, serving as “a rallying point of thoughts and aspirations of the under-privileged.”
In a more grandiose vein, a close associate says that the aim is “to bring the dimensions of
ethics and morality back into people‟s lives. We want to create the largest possible
organization performing a service to humanity” (quoted by Lessem, 1989, p. 639). And in the
fashion of much New Age thinking about capitalism, Abedi has affirmed his intention is to
“harmonize business life with spiritual life” (p. 675).
In fact, a great deal of the language, and, it would seem, the practice of BCCI, has been of a
kind that would be welcomed at places like Glastonbury or Findhorn. Ronnie Lessem uses a
number of in-house publications, and interviews, to claim that the bank has taught
“metaphysical management.” Much the same picture is found in a document” the UK Regional
Conference Report entitled The Vital Principle, The Source of Energy” which I obtained in the
mid-1980s.