Since I got the eye-pad and some Optrex for Christmas (when I had asked for an i-Pad with hi-res option), I thought I was beyond further disappointment. And I would certainly not have thought it possible to have been disappointed in banks and bankers as my expectations of them are so low as to offer no barrier to the snake’s belly. But it must surely be a matter for some disappointment that, after all the words spewed out on this web site and hundreds of others about the need for care when e-mailing, texting or exchanging instant messages, those in the very forefront of commerce are still happy to exchange messages of the ‘just tell him to put it low’ and ‘I owe you big time… I’m opening a bottle of Bollinger’ ilk.
It seems that those who have penned articles on the subject and those, like me, who have been part of publicising the message about the openness of such exchanges have been wasting their cyberbreath. Nobody has been listening. The electronic evidence experts and the e-disclosure specialists must be wondering why they bothered hitting a key of their laptops.
I would like to emphasise that the message was always to take care in what you do and what you say in social media and in e-mails and text messages, not how best to act unlawfully without detection. The classic comparison is with the old-school letter typed by your secretary and read before being sent in the post – you need to find an opportunity, however brief, to reflect and reconsider and think twice before committing yourself to paper or any other medium.
That’s the message I would {i}like{/i} to send again now. But let’s be realistic and keep it at a level that bankers can grasp: If you are going to conspire to fix rates, put personal profit before professional duty and generally stitch up your clients (aka mugs), keep it to whispers in pubs, clubs and the numerous back alleys for which the City of London is still famous, even if you do think you have had a nod and a wink from on high. Your past behaviour has been the equivalent of wandering around Threadneedle Street with a conspiratorial message on a sandwich board.
I really didn’t think I could be disappointed in these people. But I find that I am disappointed to discover that, in addition to all their other faults, they appear to be stupid.
