Bank of America’s decision to fire Omeed Malik, one of the top executives in its prime brokerage unit, doesn’t entirely appear to have stemmed the scandal surrounding Malik’s alleged activities at the bank.
Around a month after the decision to fire 38 year-old Malik for allegedly making advances towards colleagues and having relationships with female subordinates, the Wall Street Journal says BofA has also fired Valerie Ludorf and Joe Voboril. Ludorf is a former international figure skater and (now ex-) associate working in capital introductions in the bank’s strategy group. Voboril was a senior prime brokerage distribution professional.
The two stand accused of trying to cover up for Malik (who denies sexually harassing colleagues and claims to have been racially harassed himself) by trying to coordinate stories about his behaviour during BofA’s investigation. Voboril’s attorney said he didn’t commit any misconduct.
If true, however, the allegations point to a predatory individual at the top of a key unit of Bank of America in New York, whose colleagues closed in when the bank tried to investigate. The implication is that the issues are systemic and embedded in the culture of the prime brokerage unit, which was under pressure to expand in the wake of the financial crisis. The Wall Street Journal says another male executive who still works for BofA, showed senior colleagues in prime brokerage photographs of a pornography shoot he’d visited in his spare time. Malik, meanwhile, is said to have thwarted the career of a woman who refused his advances and to have pursued,’ a series of relationships with subordinates through last year.’
Worse, despite allegations dating back to 2012 that Malik’s behaviour was inappropriate, BofA did nothing about it for five years and instead consistently promoted him. The Wall Street Journal notes that, in ‘”recent years [Malik] was promoted several times, most recently to global head of capital strategy, a position that involved staff around the world reporting to him.” Although a female colleague previously complained about him to human resources and herself left the bank, Malik was only fired after another colleague went to HR at the end of 2017 and complained of an unwanted advance.”
Bank of America boasts that it’s a “diverse and inclusive company.” In the case of its prime brokerage division, this seems to have been an exaggeration.
Separately, if you want to get ahead in finance it helps to be a bit bolshy. Business Insider spoke to Malcolm Smith, who became an MD at Blackrock aged just 30 and who now overseees JPMorgan Asset Management’s $135 billion international equity group aged 36. If you want to get ahead, it helps to ask awkward questions of your boss, says Smith. “I’m willing to ask the difficult questions, address the big issues, and own them and deal with them,” he tells BI. “- You need to listen a lot, but also ask the right questions and be willing to ask the awkward question.”
Meanwhile:
European investors are paying $1,300 an hour to talk to experts in things like sausage packing and artificial intelligence. (Bloomberg)
Commodities traders are leaving Goldman Sachs after a miserable 2017. (Reuters)
Why you want to work for M&A boutique Robey Warshaw: it only has three partners, the best paid of whom earned £37m last year, and it just scored a mandate working on Comcast’s £22bn offer for Sky. (Business Insider)
There are now hundreds of jobs at crypto exchanges. (Business Insider)
Even hedge fund managers with “pedigree” can’t raise money now. (Reuters)
Deutsche Borse is hiring 200 people in Cork, Ireland. (Irish Times)
Cork can become the Canary Wharf of Ireland. (Irish Examiner)
New artificially intelligent video interviewing software will be able to discern whether you’re really passionate about a job or actually just a bit bored. (Financial Times)
Follow @MadameButcher
Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Contact: sbutcher@efinancialcareers.com
Bear with us if you leave a comment at the bottom of this article: all our comments are moderated by human beings. Sometimes these humans might be asleep, or away from their desks, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. Eventually it will – unless it’s offensive or libelous (in which case it won’t.)
Related articles:
Bank by bank, these are the new hiring priorities for 2018Want a new job with a big bank this year? It will help if you fit into these buckets.
Morning Coffee: 56-year-old Goldman banker’s special appeal for 22-year-old NYC analysts. Confirmation that 2018 started wellMeet the Goldman veteran hanging out with New York Millennials at weekends.
“”
Â