It is difficult judging or arguing about what constitutes ethical investment. There are no clear-cut rules. Individuals and institutions need to apply their own moral standards and values when deciding where to put their money. I come across investors who refuse to support businesses that trade with or source materials from kleptocracies like Zimbabwe. Others avoid organisations where top executives over-reward themselves or employ hostile labour practices.The JSE's top company manufactures cigarettes, the second-biggest is a brewer while a number of other listed counters operate casinos. The conversation is limitless. I have misgivings about the management of a number of quoted companies, but, as a cluster, I tend to dodge corporations with strategies that take advantage of the uninformed, inexperienced and despairing.Entering the workforce as a trusting articled clerk back in the late 1960s, my monthly salary, even with a bachelor's degree, was a measly R120. Still living with my parents I did what most youngsters do with their first pay cheque - I bought a sound system.Wesbank kindly agreed to finance the R150 cost, but after signing the contract, the retailer, "Modern Electric" presented me with an additional invoice for R20, fees for an imaginary expense that I gullibly paid. Over 40 years later it seems that some of those devious practices have not necessarily changed in the world of instalment sales.Last week the National Credit Regulator referred one of the country's oldest and most respected furniture retailers, Lewis Stores and its insurance arm, Monarch, to the National Consumer Tribunal for apparent breaches of the National Credit Act, accusing the group of deceiving certain customers by selling them disability and loss of employment cover that they were disqualified from ever claiming.The allegations were hardly a surprise. For decades furniture and electronics retailers have pushed customers to high-margin loan and insurance products.Recently, though, the government has gazetted that it is considering reducing fees and interest rates on small loans, a move that could put more pressure on firms servicing the low end of the market.Despite their eagerness to grow earnings, it's unlikely that high-level management at a prominent group such as Lewis would have sanctioned the sale of retrenchment cover to pensioners and self-employed consumers. Rather, the debate arising from the sale of loan and insurance products revolves around the training, experience and responsibility of the organisation's sales force.When Conatus Capital's David Stemerman presented at the Ira Sohn Investment Conference in New York in May 2013, believing African Bank was heading for bankruptcy, he recommended shorting the share, highlighting that one of his major concerns was that over 50% of the loan officers had less than six months' experience on the job. In his view these salespeople were nowhere near skilled enough to counsel customers on future obligations, nor sufficiently knowledgeable to determine the creditworthiness of the applicants.The Department of Trade and Industry has expressed its determination to eliminate the bad practices at the low end of the banking and finance industry, and not a minute too soon, but ensuring the know-how of the staff at the front desk should not be overlooked in the overhaul...