Sacking of trader who lost bank £25m deemed racist

A CHINESE banker won his case for racial discrimination after his boss suggested that he failed to flag up a £25million loss because his “Asian culture” dictated that he could not “lose face”.

Samuel Yang was executive director of the investment bank Credit Agricole’s precious metals desk. When the pandemic hit markets the bank was exposed to “unprecedented” levels of risk and one of its precious metal trades lost the bank £25.8million. Mr Yang was sacked for failing to tell his bosses.

However, an employment tribunal ruled that he was unfairly dismissed because disciplinary hearings failed to properly interview other witnesses. The tribunal also ruled Mr Yang was a victim of race discrimination after his boss told the internal hearing that Asian people “can sometimes be reluctant to agree to something that has gone on” because they do not want to “lose face”.

He is now due to receive compensation for unfair dismissal and race discrimination.

Mr Yang reported directly to his boss, Tony Botting, and in March 2020, amid concerns over volatile markets, employees were told to report “high risk” incidents to management. The tribunal heard that the difference in gold prices that Mr Yang’s team were trading over four days that month increased to “unprecedented levels”, exposing the trades to heightened risk.

However, Mr Yang believed the market would stabilise so did not report this to management. He was called into a meeting with Mr Botting and was suspended, pending an investigation into allegations of potential gross misconduct for not reporting the losses.

The tribunal noted: “[He] was not disciplined for causing any loss. He was

‘The remark amounted to negative stereotyping. A Caucasian employee would not have been subjected to it’

disciplined for failing to identify, and escalate the loss to the bank.”

During the disciplinary process, Mr Botting was interviewed and said: “I worked in Asia for five-and-a-half years.

“The cultural aspect is something you need to be aware of in terms of loss of face.

“They can sometimes be reluctant to agree to something that has gone on.”

However, the tribunal concluded: “Mr Botting’s remark amounted to negative stereotyping” and “a Caucasian employee would not have been subjected to the same … stereotyping.”