Ep 05 – Trust in Black Hat World: Was Finance Ever Trustworthy?

Ep 05 – Trust in Black Hat World: Was Finance Ever Trustworthy?

You're on your own. There are few left to trust." That's how Dave Nadig opens his provocative essays on the death of white-hat thinking in finance—and it sets the stage for one of MRKTG Access's most philosophical episodes yet. Catharine and Avery wrestle with big questions: Was the ETF industry ever truly trustworthy, or did it just feel that way? Can you work for pay-to-play publications and still be a white hat? How do marketers build trust when the entire financial system's moral center has allegedly eroded? Drawing on Nadig's extensive industry background and his Black Hat/White Hat framework, this conversation challenges assumptions about ethics, transparency, and what "trust" actually means in financial services marketing.