{"id":9724,"date":"2016-09-08T13:15:09","date_gmt":"2016-09-08T12:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=9724"},"modified":"2016-09-08T13:15:09","modified_gmt":"2016-09-08T12:15:09","slug":"blue-blood-monopoly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=9724","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Blue blood\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 monopoly"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Snobbish investment banks are barring nearly all but the very wealthiest from entering the industry thanks to unforgivable infractions \u00e2\u20ac\u201c like wearing brown shoes, speaking with the wrong accent and not possessing the right kind of \u00e2\u20ac\u015baura\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, a study into social exclusion has found.<\/p>\n

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One interviewee told the Social Mobility Commission<\/a>, which conducted the report, that at some banks \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthe concept of diversity is about taking a different year group from Eton or from Harrow; if some of the departments are really ambitious they might include St Paul\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and Westminster school.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Unite national officer for finance Rob McGregor said the findings reflected a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bblue blood\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 monopoly – which also features to a lesser extent in the higher echelons of retail banking – that was, in part, to blame for the financial crisis.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere were a lot of different factors that contributed to the 2008 economic collapse, so it would be churlish to lay all the blame on a particular group because greed occurs in every class, but this elitism isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t good for the sector, the economy or our society,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 McGregor said.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt creates a very narrow perspective because everyone mixes with the same groups and has a similar sense of entitlement, standing and expenditure.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt encourages the pursuit of wealth at any cost \u00e2\u20ac\u201c as evidenced by the predatory investment bank schemes that were a major cause of the financial meltdown.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Unfortunately the lack of diversity within investment banking \u00e2\u20ac\u201c where 70 per cent of new entrants to the private equity sector have been privately educated, despite only seven per cent of the population attending fee paying schools \u00e2\u20ac\u201c is getting worse, the report said.<\/p>\n

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Increasingly, successful candidates are expected to have rich and powerful parents who can be of benefit to the banks, should have completed a number of unpaid London based banking internships whilst attending an elite secondary school and display a host of extra-curricular activities on their CV.<\/p>\n

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Judged<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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On top of this they are judged on an \u00e2\u20ac\u015baura\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 stemming from an intrinsic knowledge of the etiquette, dress and social mores of wealthy society, which the report states is \u00e2\u20ac\u015bunknowable\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 for candidates not immersed in that world.<\/p>\n

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Without the list of attributes even first class graduates, who have attended the handful of elite universities that investment banks recruit from, are likely to see their ambitions quashed.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is important to note again that these processes are becoming more pronounced within the sector. Banks acting alone may be reluctant to reverse this trend for fear of their competitors capturing all the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098best\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 candidates at an early stage,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 the report said.<\/p>\n

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One interviewee said the process of selecting the most privileged is \u00e2\u20ac\u015bnot nepotism the way we actually think about it. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actually very calculated, profit-motivated, rational thinking.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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McGregor, however, said that such myopic profit seeking, and the \u00e2\u20ac\u015bcasino capitalism\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 it encourages, is not healthy for the rest of the society; including for the thousands of low paid bank branch workers who also suffer when the gambling goes wrong.<\/p>\n

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He said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is in society\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interests that those at the top should have a broad based view of the world and some understanding of those who are less privileged.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bRight now it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an aristocracy, rather than a meritocracy. If the investment banks are serious about cultural change, and avoiding the privileged entitlement that helped lead to the financial crash, they would open up the talent pool to people from different walks of life.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Snobbish investment banks are barring nearly all but the very wealthiest from entering the industry thanks to unforgivable infractions \u00e2\u20ac\u201c like wearing brown shoes, speaking with the wrong accent and not possessing the right kind of \u00e2\u20ac\u015baura\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, a study into social exclusion has found.   One interviewee told the Social Mobility Commission, which conducted the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9725,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[291,102,292],"wps_subtitle":"Elitism at banking\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s top must end","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9724"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9724"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9726,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9724\/revisions\/9726"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}