No more nights on the tiles as City workers face Cinderella curfews
NO ENTERTAINING clients past midnight and a ban on doing shots are just two of the new rules investment banks are imposing on their employees, according to employment law firm, GQ Employment Law.
The law firm has suggested a tightening of codes of conduct at some financial institutions in a bid to change public perceptions of the industry. These new rules come in addition to the measures already put in place by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority to curb excessive risk-taking.
“Large financial institutions want to demonstrate absolute dedication to the interests of their clients,” said Paul Quain of GQ Employment Law. “They hope that a more professional environment will achieve that, as well as reducing the risk of potentially criminal behaviour.”
This clamp down, which could see a “Cinderella” curfew on expenses to encourage partying to end early, could have an effect on the City’s favourite drinking holes. “Bankers are already behaving better and spending less,” said Ranald Macdonald, owner of the Boisdale chain. “It’s damaging to the restaurant industry and taking the fun out of doing business.”
In addition to rules on entertaining, GQ Employment Law suggests many bank employees are now banned from using multidealer chat rooms at work. That was a reaction to some of the embarrassing conversations revealed during the Libor fixing probes.