Citigroup’s retired president launched a powerful broadside at the bank’s former currencies head Rohan Ramchandani, questioning the ex-trader’s judgment and common sense.
James Forese, who retired from Citi this summer after 34 years and was acting as a witness for the bank, said he was more comfortable with the decision to fire Mr Ramchandani now than he was at the time of the dismissal in January 2014 at a London employment tribunal.
Mr Ramchandani has brought a claim against Citi alleging the bank unfairly dismissed him from his role based on conversations he had with currency dealers at rival banks, in which Citi claims he had shared information about client orders in chat rooms.
Mr Forese, who was called to testify at this week’s remedy hearing as one of the key decision makers in the trader’s dismissal, told the hearing he feels less concerned about Mr Ramchandani’s sacking nearly six years ago than he had been at the time after listening to evidence and reading the witness statements.
Mr Forese said he did not feel that the former employee’s explanations for the chats that are the focus of the case were “very credible”. Mr Forese also said he was concerned by Mr Ramchandani’s lack of acceptance that the content of his conversations could at least give rise to a “perception of impropriety”.
“The failure of [Mr Ramchandani] to acknowledge the damage the chats have done is very damning,” Mr Forese said.
Mr Ramchandani told the tribunal last week that his chats were in line with industry standards at the time and he only shared information that was necessary for doing his job to match orders and manage risk for the bank. A jury last year acquitted Mr Ramchandani and his two peers of criminal charges in the US.
Lawyers for Citi are arguing that Mr Ramchandani was dismissed because his conversations with two other traders at rival banks breached the bank’s code of conduct and behavioural guidelines. Citi has already conceded the unfair dismissal claim on procedural grounds, but the hearing aims to determine if the bank should give Mr Ramchandani his job back.
Lawyers for Mr Ramchandani argued that the bank has been inconsistent in what it told regulators and him, while also claiming that Citi was desperate to get rid of him once press reports started about Bloomberg chats in which traders allegedly conspired to fix prices.
Mr Forese denied this and said that the contents of the chats were clearly in breach of guidelines and that he was very “troubled” when he reviewed the conversations in late 2013.
In his witness statement, Mr Forese said that in the chats he reviewed, Mr Ramchandani not only shared confidential information about orders, but “also gave the appearance” that [he] was attempting to co-ordinate his trading with external traders.
Mr Ramchandani was supported by former colleagues from Citi, including one who won an unfair dismissal claim against Citi in 2015. Last week, another former Citi employee Carly Hosler testified in support of Mr Ramchandani.
Mr Ramchandani filed a civil lawsuit in the US demanding $112m in compensation for loss of lifetime earnings. He said he would drop the US claim if he wins the right to be reinstated. The hearing will draw to a close in the first half of December.
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November 22, 2019 at 04:56PM
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Former Citi president takes aim at sacked forex trader - Financial Times
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