Barclays Gets To Take A Turn Explaining Its Hiring Practices In Asia

The British bank didn't want to be left out of the fun!

Author:: Bess Levin
Updated:: Jan 14, 2019
Original:: Mar 1, 2016

...and whether or not they were part of a 'you scratch our back, we'll scratch yours' type situation its peers (allegedly!) had going on.

Barclays PLC on Tuesday became the latest bank to disclose that U.S. authorities are investigating its hiring practices in Asia, part of a wider probe into banks’ recruitment of friends and family members of government officials and top executives in the region. In its latest annual report, the British bank said it is cooperating with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department in “an investigation into certain of its hiring practices in Asia.” Around 10 banks in the U.S. and Europe have said they are being investigated by U.S. agencies over aspects of their foreign recruiting. Last week, HSBC Holdings PLC, said it had received information requests from the SEC on their practices around job candidates with ties to Asian government officials.

Barclays Falls Under SEC Spotlight for Asian Hiring [WSJ]

Related: JP Morgan Just Coincidentally Hired 222 Friends And Family Members Of Officials At Chinese Companies It Took Public; Wait, Is It Not Typical Of JPMorgan To Hire People People Who Send “Sexually Explicit Emails” To HR And Are Described As “The Worst…Candidate Ever”?

Specifically the one where it (allegedly!) hands out favors to the children of important officials in Asia.

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Everybody give it up, one last time, for Gao Jue.

Have you ever had construction going on nearby your home? Was it loud? Annoying? Did keep it keep you up in the middle of the night? Did you seriously consider opening your window and screaming "Hey! Shut the hell up down there!" or even confronting the people making all that racket face to face? Olivier Desbarres can relate. Or at least he can half relate. Because while most of you were probably talked out of making some sort of scene, either by your significant other or your own impulse control, on October 20th Desbarres decided to go in another direction, the one that involved introducing himself to the construction workers building a house near his own by screaming "I'm gonna go after you, I will haunt you, I'm gonna burn your fucking house down, I will find your fucking family," a task he noted would be fairly simple and straightforward ("I can find [them] very easily," he explained, "I'm a man with resources"), in case there were doubts (a fairly reasonable concern, as there are a lot of people in Singapore and how were these guys supposed to know he had an army of Barclays researchers at his disposal?). Still worried that the group wasn't taking his threats seriously on account of the casual look he was sporting that morning-- shorts and sandals-- Desbarres then picked up some sheet metal and launched it in their direction, presumably to demonstrate he meant business.* Although that would have been a good time to make his exit, at that point Desbarres noticed that one of the men had been recording him without his consent, leading to: “You’re filming me? You think that’s good? Put your fucking phone down because I’m going to wait for you to come out and take that phone and shove it up your fucking ass.” According to one local publication, this whole thing started because the construction crew began working at 8:45am one day in October instead of 9am, the time Desbarres preferred. In related news, according to a person familiar with Barclays' policies concerning construction site meltdowns, "We consider such behavior and language unacceptable. It does not meet the high standard of conduct that we expect of our employees." Desbarres, who is no longer with the bank, has not yet returned Dealbreaker's call for comment.** Foul-mouth foreigner threatens workers and warns he will hunt down their families [Stomp] Barlcays Far Too Candid Camera [Sunday Times via Ian Fraser] Barclays Capital Appoints Olivier Desbarres as Head of FX Strategy, Asia-Pacific Ex-Japan [BarCap] Related (re: Barclays employees losing their shit in public): Barclays Global Head of Investment Banking Writes Tear-Stained Letter To Son’s School, Demands Teacher’s Firing For Trash Talking Barclays, Making Son Cry *Insane ranting + shorts + sandals can leave room for interpretation re: is this guy serious or not; insane ranting + shorts + sandals + grabbing whatever shit from a construction site is within arm's reach and throwing at people is generally-- though not always!-- pretty clear. **Possibly because we called in the middle of the night local time and he is on his way to New York to throw a piece of sheetrock at us; you know how he gets when his sleep is interrupted.

Earlier this week Barlcays promised not to dawdle when it comes to canning the 2,000 employees slated to be cut. Today employees in Asia got to experience that follow-through in action!

New CEO John "Mack the Knife" McFarlane has is machete out and is ready to hack through not only employees but all the red tape gumming up the works at the British bank.

Antony Jenkins has his fingers crossed the era of you know who is almost over.

Nothing to see here.