- Bloomberg reported new particulars about sexual harassment in Citigroup’s equities division.
- A former managing director filed a lawsuit final 12 months, saying the poisonous tradition endured till 2022.
- Throughout that point, the division underperformed, lagging behind different Wall Avenue banks.
One unit at Citigroup has constructed a less-than-stellar status over time.
The financial institution’s equities division, which helps hedge funds execute trades, has been stricken by a tradition of “persistent harassment and discrimination,” Bloomberg reported after interviewing 22 individuals who “labored in or carefully with the equities division.”
The report recounts quite a few examples of a poisonous boys’-club surroundings the place ladies had been rated by their appearances, objectified, and subjected to lewd discussions and undesirable advances. Some saved quiet out of worry of retaliation. Others who spoke up about their experiences stated they had been dismissed by a company tradition that valued a small “in crowd” and ignored others.
Enterprise Insider reached out to Citigroup for remark. Representatives for the financial institution stated it had no additional remark, however Mark Costiglio, a spokesperson for Citigroup, advised Bloomberg that its “efforts to foster an inclusive and equitable office tradition by no means cease, and making certain that our requirements are effectively understood and complied with by everybody at Citi is a steady, proactive course of.”
“We offer colleagues with quite a few avenues to boost issues in confidence, and when substantiated we are going to take applicable motion, as much as and together with termination of employment. Whereas we won’t touch upon particular person inside issues, merely put, the place warranted, we exit workers who fail to fulfill our excessive requirements of respectful remedy,” he added.
Bloomberg’s investigation follows a lawsuit that Ardith Lindsey, a former managing director at Citigroup, filed final 12 months. She stated within the lawsuit that she “confronted horrifying sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and sexual assault throughout her tenure on the agency” that has “derailed her profession — and her life.”
Amongst her complaints, Lindsey stated she was coerced right into a relationship with a senior male colleague who made “grotesque and violent sexual feedback” about her and hounded her with “a whole bunch of textual content messages and constant telephone calls” after she ended the connection. She additionally stated she was repeatedly subjected to “excessive” sexual harassment and a hostile work surroundings, in addition to pressured to attend strip golf equipment the place “male managers used ladies solely for leisure.”
One derivatives dealer advised Bloomberg about an incident throughout a consumer dinner the place a colleague “reached beneath the desk and put his hand on her leg.” One other colleague requested the dealer why she did not put on “sexier sneakers.” When the dealer approached her higher-ups in regards to the incident, a feminine govt advised her to shrug it off. Six different individuals who reportedly complained about their experiences to senior colleagues felt equally let down by their colleagues’ responses.
In the meantime, the division, which is comparatively small inside Citigroup, has additionally underperformed, Bloomberg reported. The unit’s buying and selling income trails behind the opposite huge banks on Wall Avenue.
Regardless of the sordid historical past inside its equities division, Citigroup has made strides to create a extra tolerant surroundings in comparison with others in its business, Bloomberg reported. The agency has additionally been extra accepting of flexible-work preparations, which have boosted the variety of ladies within the workforce, than different monetary companies, Fortune reported. The financial institution additionally appointed Jane Fraser as its CEO in 2021 — the primary feminine CEO of a serious financial institution in the US.
