German bank like ‘frat club’, says exec

A CITY hedge fund manager is seeking £7 million in compensation from a German bank, claiming its “frat club” culture made her feel excluded on the trading floor.

Foreign exchange manager Jenus Fiouzi, 43, claims key decisions at Commerzbank AG were made during all-male drinking sessions to which she was not invited.

She told the Central London Employment Tribunal her colleagues often spoke German in front of her, leaving her “isolated and outnumbered”.

Ms Fi o u z i , wh o ha d pr e v i o u s l y worked at Credit Agricole, JP Morgan and Citigroup, began working at the bank’s London office in April 2013 on a salary of £130,000.

She was fired in October 2014 and is claiming £7 million for loss of earnings and injury to feelings. She is claiming sex and race discrimination and unfair dismissal.

She said when she applied: “The interview process was conducted entirely in English and it was clear that English was the language of business in the bank, at least in the London office.”

She added: “It is well known that there are more males working in financial institutions in the Cit y than females. This has never bothered me and I have not previously made a complaint of sex or race discrimination.

“However, the culture was different at the Bank. It was a German maledominated environment, especially in the senior management ranks. On and off the trading floor there was a German ‘boys’ club’ culture at the bank, which I would describe as akin to a college fraternity or frat club. There were no senior female managers in sales that I can recall.”

She told the tribunal there had been a woman in the trading side who “unexpectedly left the bank under a cloak of secrecy”.

Ms Fiouzi, who was born in Iran but migrated to Canada at 17, said: “I later heard via the office grapevine that she had raised concerns about her treatment as a non-German female on the trading floor. After she left, all decisionmakers were German and I felt more isolated and outnumbered.”

She said some of the traders would

‘Decisions about work matters were being taken during drinking sessions … I was out of the loop’

Jenus Fiouzi go out for drinks after work “inviting others to join them but not usually me, unless it was work-related”.

She said: “It was quite clear to me that during their evenings together, as is normal with colleagues, work would come up in conversation.

“It then became evident to me that decisions about work matters were being taken during drinking sessions because when the same matters later