Nomura bankers sue over sex jibes and intimidation
TWO City high-fliers are suing investment bank Nomura for a total of £3m over claims that they were pushed out of their jobs by sexist Japanese bosses.
Maureen Murphy, 30, alleges that one woman trader had her breasts referred to as “honkers” during a meeting. She also claims that a male colleague at the bank said women “belonged at home cleaning floors”.
Murphy, a senior analyst earning £55,000-a-year and Anna Francis, 37, had worked in Asian equities sales at Lehman Brothers in Canary Wharf before the bank collapsed in September last year. The two women were moved to Nomura as part of a buyout. Francis worked as an executive on £250,000-a-year including bonus. But the pair claimed at Central London Employment Tribunal that sexist Japanese company chiefs effectively sidelined them because they were women and not Japanese. Their barrister Michael Duggan told the tribunal: “This organisation is racist and sexist.” In legal papers Murphy, who lives in Islington, alleges that one male client said to her colleague Melissa Holian: “Oh, you don’t have your honkers out today.”
Nomura strenuously denies the allegations. “To suggest the women were selected on the basis of their race or sex is wholly unfounded,” the bank said. The case continues.