Banco Santander hired a law firm this past summer to investigate an internal complaint that a group of Banco Santander employees visited a strip club after a day of company meetings and pressured younger employees to attend, according to what the Financial Times reported on Monday.
The London newspaper details that the incident took place last February, after the bank's global debt capital markets team held meetings at the entity's headquarters in the United Kingdom.
Specifically, seven men – three veteran positions and four of lower rank – were the ones who visited the Nags Head Gentlemens Club in London after work days.
Given this, a Santander spokesman has maintained that the bank takes "issues related to employee conduct very seriously" and "very rigorous processes are being followed to ascertain the facts and take the appropriate measures."
Likewise, from the same banking firm they add that the investigation and the measures undertaken are confidential, so they cannot make any further comments.
The Financial Times states that a worker was the one who raised an internal complaint anonymously in the good practice compliance department, exposing concern about the incident and the fact that younger colleagues felt pressured to attend the club.
"It is the symptom of an industry in transition, from the old standards to the new ones, the company has not known how to handle it because these practices were common a decade ago, but now and rightly so, they are frowned upon," a British media commented. worker close to the investigated group.
In response to the complaint, Santander hired the US law firm Gibson Dunn to conduct an internal investigation over the summer to establish the facts.
The law firm interviewed up to 15 people who participated in the night out — including the seven people who attended the strip club — and concluded that no explicit pressure had been placed on younger staff members, according to a person with knowledge of the case. process, cited by the Financial Times.
With everything, and according to the economic newspaper, the investigation has resulted in a sanction for the moment for one of the veteran positions that orchestrated the visit to the club, although without any dismissal.
