Singapore Expats

Hi

Im just a middle level bank clerk but have discovered some serious issues within the banks capital markets area which are being covered up. If these go the wrong way it could lead to the bank having serious financial problems with repercussions on other banks. There is currently an audit but the three managers have covered up these problems and have pressured staff to shutup.

I fear that if I speak up I will be fired (this has happened in the past for something similar but much less dramatic). Essentially it set back my career by 10 years.

My question is whether I should quit before these problems surface or speak up ?

this is dangerous and serious stuff! does your bank as a dept like compliance/regulator or code of ethics you can speak to?

the right thing is to report it. with banks, sooner or later it will all be uncovered and if they find that you knew about it and kept quiet, i dont think they will take it likely.

I know nothing about banking and would normally choose to stay out of this one. However, the OP's post seem to point to what might involve a case or cases of fraud. In that case it should be reported.

is it another Baring with Nick Leeson? or maybe bigger than Societe Generale?

Bubbletoo wrote:Hi

Im just a middle level bank clerk but have discovered some serious issues within the banks capital markets area which are being covered up. If these go the wrong way it could lead to the bank having serious financial problems with repercussions on other banks. There is currently an audit but the three managers have covered up these problems and have pressured staff to shutup.

I fear that if I speak up I will be fired (this has happened in the past for something similar but much less dramatic). Essentially it set back my career by 10 years.

My question is whether I should quit before these problems surface or speak up ?

If your involved, you are better to spill the beans, before it gets out of control...those above you don't give two turds, about you or the rest of the staff. Look on the bright side of life "You may even get promoted and save other peoples jobs too"

Bubbletoo wrote:Hi

Im just a middle level bank clerk but have discovered some serious issues within the banks capital markets area which are being covered up. If these go the wrong way it could lead to the bank having serious financial problems with repercussions on other banks. There is currently an audit but the three managers have covered up these problems and have pressured staff to shutup.

I fear that if I speak up I will be fired (this has happened in the past for something similar but much less dramatic). Essentially it set back my career by 10 years.

My question is whether I should quit before these problems surface or speak up ?

If the audit is done by the same people doing the covering up then you'd have to assume that the coverup is legitimate and endorsed by upper management whether implicitly or explicitly. Who in their right mind ask the potential crooks to audit themselves unless it's just for show?

However if information is being hidden from the audit team by the 3 managers then I suggest you find an opportunity to speak to one of the audit team members in private.

Bring whatever evidences you have. Don't attempt to explain anything, if the fraud is clear, the evidence will bear it out. Let the audit team person know that you wish to remain annonymous. Also let them know that you intend to remain silent on the matter as you intend to respect the bank's rights to confidentiality and your only intent is to leave this information to them to deal with as they see fit.

Don't appear antagonistic to anyone, don't complain about anyone etc, just present the evidences, give your reassurances and leave.

Spill it. There will be 3rd party audit team there to scrutinize everything. If it's there, it'll be found. Maybe the present audit team themselves should be audited too.

is your name Jerome Kerviel?

or are you at Soc Gen?

anyways
the movie rights / book rights / speaking tours would be worth $ as a whistle blower.

Its no where near as big as SG or even Nick Leeson but if it started getting out of control the bank could lose its credit rating and other banks could use it as an excuse to dump on its shares.

Its not the actual deals which are bad but the way some are structured. Essentially it would be a domino effect given the way they are hedged with other institutions. Also fraud is to strong a word, its more that people don't know what there doing and dont even realise its wrong. As for the managers they just dont want to look bad and want to fix it......only later when they have more time. I just dont think they realise the implications.

Ive been thinking of contacting the compliance department or the head of audit. The problem is that there are very few of us in the team so any leaks will automatically be sourced back to us. It's actually a real sh#t !

when the bank eventually find out, your whole team will probably be out of work. so it is better to come clean now. some of the big banks i know, the code of ethics is to report any illegal dealing to compliance.

defo speak to compliance as they are there to check on rouge dealing/trading/etc.

Can you quit while you're ahead and move to a different bank? If the problem is as big as you say, you should definitely start looking into other options.

What do name of bank in Vietnam you know ?

chieuhado wrote:What do name of bank in Vietnam you know ?

Spammer! Let's get tie him to an SBS bus and drag him through Hougang!

I wouldn't report it to the auditors who are currently visiting. There is not much protection for whistleblowers, despite what is said.

Your options - contact the head of audit anonymously (use a remailer account so that your email cannot be tracked). We had a case where a member of the compliance team contacted the head of audit and what followed was straight out of a james bond movie - meetings in hotel rooms, not telling anyone that the hoa was in the country etc.
Contact the MAS (assuming you're in SG) - I would use the same method as above,
or do nothing,

but what ever you choose, start looking for a new job and move all your money to another bank.

carteki wrote:I wouldn't report it to the auditors who are currently visiting. There is not much protection for whistleblowers, despite what is said.

Your options - contact the head of audit anonymously (use a remailer account so that your email cannot be tracked). We had a case where a member of the compliance team contacted the head of audit and what followed was straight out of a james bond movie - meetings in hotel rooms, not telling anyone that the hoa was in the country etc.
Contact the MAS (assuming you're in SG) - I would use the same method as above,
or do nothing,

but what ever you choose, start looking for a new job and move all your money to another bank.

Carteki, you noticed that the spammer picked up on a 1.5 year old thread?