The trader’s life

SIR – I was interested in your article, “Trader secrets: the savage side of City life” (Telegraph Magazine, February 3), which told the story of the former trader Gary Stevenson.

I was a trader at Citigroup at about the same time, working in an area closely related to Mr Stevenson’s, and also making a seven-figure sum, including bonus. Like him, I experienced stress and left in 2014 to work for a charity, taking my deferred compensation with me.

However, I wish to defend Citi. I do not recognise the debauched world that Mr Stevenson depicts. My managers were good family people with (as far as I knew) few vices beyond an occasional fancy dinner. When in 2012 I considered leaving as a result of burnout, they were compassionate and supportive, allowing me to work part-time for two years. When I decided to leave in 2014, human resources approved my request without creating any difficulties, and my managers were kind and professional.

Citi was, as far as I know, unique in the industry for allowing workers to take their deferred compensation with them, provided they were leaving to work for government or a charity. Elsewhere, Mr Stevenson would have had no grounds for this request and no chance of keeping the money. It seems he took a combative approach with his management, which naturally wanted to understand the background before approving his request.

His implication that management just weren’t willing to let him leave the company – a tale more reminiscent of a Hollywood gangster movie than an international financial institution – seems rather fanciful to me.

Andy Kent

Sharpthorne, West Sussex