Casual wear week

From HereIsTheCIty:

Only the very brave (or the very stupid) admit to being a banker these days.

In times of trouble, we all like someone to blame. And bankers are getting it in the neck big time for the current financial and economic crisis - but not just the bankers that were responsible for our current difficulties, but any banker. These days, it's all about guilt by association.

Things have become so bad, that some firms are telling their staff to come to work in casual clothing, and not to wear anything that identifies where they work, or who they work for. Some staff have received death threats, or have been physically threatened.

Protesters went on a bus tour (the so-called Rich & Infamous tour) of the houses of AIG executives in the US last weekend, and vandals went to work on a house and a car owned by former Royal bank of Scotland CEO Sir Fred Goodwin in Edinburgh earlier this week, smashing windows. Police are investigating an e-mail which claims responsibility for the attacks, and says: 'We are angry that rich people, like him, are paying themselves a huge amount of money and living in luxury, while ordinary people are made unemployed, destitute and homeless......This is just the beginning'.

And then we face the prospect of the G20 protests in London next week, which are predicted to end up in riots and more vandalism.

So, we've been advised by the management to come in casual wear next week during the protests. While I'm happy at the opportunity to dress casual, I'm more concerned about the future outlook.

We know that banks are built on reputation. When the name of a bank has been so thoroughly tarnished - there really is no turning back. The bank will start to lose business and sooner or later, it will go down...