Deutsche Bank traders have been warned: when it comes to online communications, vulgar or boastful language and indiscretion will be held against them, the Financial Times reported Friday.
“Some of you are falling way short of our established standards,” Colin Fan, the co-head of the German financial services company’s investment banking arm, said in an internal video distributed to all employees in the unit’s sales and trading division and posted with the related article on the FT website. “Let’s be clear: our reputation is everything. Being boastful, indiscreet and vulgar is not OK. It will have serious consequences for your career. And, I have lost patience on this issue.”
The warning comes, the FT noted, as Deutsche Bank and other banks see to extract themselves from the Libor rate-fixing scandal and grapple with inquiries into possible foreign exchange rate rigging.
So far, more than 30 people at nine financial services institutions, including Deutsche Bank, have been suspended or fired in connection with those investigations, the FT noted, though no individual or institution has been charged.
In such an environment, Fan noted the video, employees’ behavior could get a close look.
“You may not realise it, but right now, because of regulatory scrutiny, all your communications may be reviewed,” Fan says in the video, according to the FT. “This includes your emails, your conversations and your conduct.”
According to the FT, Deutsche Bank confirmed the video’s authenticity and said: “The substance and tone of this video is intentionally direct and part of an ongoing programme.”
