[fauigerzigerk]

You're talking about two very different situations but your wording doesn't make that clear:

a) Engineers don't know and cannot be expected to know whether what they are being asked to implement complies with all regulations. This is completely normal.

b) Engineers know or can be expected to know based on their expertise that they are being asked to cheat. That's when they are on the hook.

VW was a case of (b). It was clear-cut criminal behaviour on a very technical level. But that's not what typically happens in financial services and many other domains.

But if your point is merely that engineers are not automatically in the clear just because someone higher up told them what to do then I agree with you.