I was sitting one weekend morning, reading a copy of the Financial Times, only to see that this topic has resurfaced. ANZ, one of Australia’s biggest banks, is considering whether it should ban its staff from drinking alcohol during working hours. This follows bad behaviour that took place on the trading floor in Sydney.
Apparently, traders had been intoxicated in the office. The chief executive informed a group of MPs that there had been internal complaints about some of the traders who had breached the company’s code of conduct, returning from lunch under the influence and then using profanities on the trading floor. The chief executive argued that the incident was exaggerated and questioned whether it was truly a scandal. Nevertheless, he was concerned about restoring the bank’s reputation.
Years ago, I had the pleasure of being a trader at a well-known bank in the City. It was fun, and there was money to be made. Things were a lot freer and easier. Alcohol flowed almost every day.
I can recall colleagues being reprimanded for sleeping on park benches after a heavy night out with brokers (the charge being that it was unbecoming of a senior manager of a bank). My boss at the time insisted that all his team went out on Wednesdays and Thursdays for beer, and the penalty for not joining in was ridicule.
There was alcohol on the premises; it was on the desk, in the fridge, and on the table for lunch. Trades were even conducted over the bar phone in the local pub. The phone was set on speaker, and prices were relayed from the trading pits.
Drinking with brokers, colleagues and clients was frequent, and occasionally people were unwell afterwards. One client wrote:
"Thank you for a wonderful lunchtime seeing what you chaps in the City do. I can't remember how I got home, but I do remember my wife finding me in the railway sidings at 4:00 AM. Once again, it was a pleasure!”
All of this was expensed; the card just went behind the bar. Lunch for four, in today’s money, could be close to £750, with three-quarters of that spent on fine wine.
Dealers turned up to work, cigarette in hand, without their jacket, keys, or wallet—unable to remember where they’d been, just that they’d lost everything the previous night.
A fight erupted over socks. “Those are mine.” A late night had ended with six dealers all crashing at one flat.
Is it any wonder that a broker reminded me the bank was known as “Grog Bank”?
This was almost 40 years ago, and how things have changed. Now, it’s hard to buy a coffee for a client, and alcohol at lunchtime... don’t even ask.
And this is where I’m surprised.
I’ve shared a few things that I saw and experienced, and there’s a lot I’ve left out because it’s completely unprintable even in hindsight. But in defence, the climate of the 1980s was far, far different from that which we are in today.
I honestly thought the old days had gone, but apparently, they haven’t. If it’s still happening, it’s probably occurring elsewhere too. In today’s climate, you’d have to be mad to allow it.
The ongoing persistence of this problem indicates that some institutions haven’t fully addressed the challenges associated with the misuse of alcohol among traders.
We all know that it impairs judgment; that’s why you cannot drink and drive. It leads to poor decision-making; in our world, that means costly errors. These can arise from confusion between buying and selling, fat fingers and big figure mistakes, inappropriate hedging and position-taking, leaving exposures open, data entry errors and reversals, to name but a few.
It can damage client trust and confidence, attract negative media coverage, and harm the public perception of the bank. It may also lead to the bank being at the centre of claims from other staff who have been adversely affected by colleagues under the influence at work.
This will almost certainly lead to scrutiny from regulators and stakeholders, engaging management time in trying to sort out and firefight something that shouldn’t have occurred.
This is why establishing and enforcing proper policies that ban alcohol consumption during working hours is crucial. This may also include monitoring staff to detect and address potential substance misuse. Furthermore, regular training about the responsible use of alcohol, to ensure it doesn’t impact personal wellbeing and professional conduct, is essential.
I know that some of the people I worked with all those years ago could have benefited from counselling and support programmes because they genuinely struggled with alcohol-related issues formed while in a stressful job and expected to consume prodigious quantities.
Let’s leave the drink out of the workplace. I’m sorry for all of those who missed out on the 1980s—yes, it was fun, well, at least that’s what I remember. But today is far better for you!
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