Bank workers lie ‘out of shame’

Bank employees are lying about the sector that they work in out of shame, according to the Irish Bank Officials Association.

General secretary Larry Broderick said that his organisation was recently booed at a charity event when its name was read out as a sponsor of a prize.

“I know at a function recently that my own organisation was booed when the word ‘bank’ was read out — and we are the union,” Mr Broderick said.

The revelation follows a report in the UK which revealed that only one in three workers in the financial sector said they were proud to say where they worked.

The survey found that a number of workers are embarrassed to admit they work in financial services.

The results reinforce comments by Lloyds Banking Group boss António Horta-Osório who said the “best and the brightest” students are being put off a career in banking because of the stigma attached to the industry.

Mr Broderick said that in Ireland most employees in finance were saying that they were accountants, while those working in day-to-day banking were telling people that they worked in retail.

“I think you could say that bank workers have been very careful in what they say.

“Finance officials have been saying that they are accountants while bank tellers have been saying that they work in retail,” Mr Broderick said.

At the beginning of the financial crisis, bank employees were subject to abuse from members of the public and many were afraid to go out, Mr Broderick added.

“At the start of the crisis the level of abuse was enormous — people were afraid to go out,” he said.

Even now, five years on from the beginning of the crisis, banks no longer book nights out under branch names but will use an employee’s name if they are booking a restaurant or night out.

“People are still reluctant to go and book a night out as a group,” he said.