How the City responded to the Presidents Club scandal

“Honestly . . . Nobody really cares.” That was the first comment posted by a reader underneath the report on the Financial Times website about the Presidents Club charity dinner.

It turned out to be a poor prediction. Within 24 hours, the Presidents Club had shut down as charities, companies and politicians expressed their anger at the sexual harassment that had been uncovered.

More of the 130 female staff hired to work at the male-only dinner at the Dorchester hotel came forward to say they were groped, harassed and propositioned by the guests, which included many big names from property, finance, media and politics.

The hostesses were fondled on their bottoms, stomachs and legs, while one man exposed himself during the evening. Another male attendee told one hostess: “I want you to down that glass, rip off your knickers and dance on that table.”

As the Presidents Club became one of the biggest talking points of the week — from Downing Street to Davos — the more enlightened wing of the financial establishment spoke hopefully about a new dawn and that the report might become the UK’s version of the #metoo movement that has already swept through the US.

Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, said that while he had been horrified by the news, he was “encouraged by the scale, scope and depth of the reaction”.

He said to BBC Radio 4: “It demonstrates to the people who were there how much the culture has moved on.” The bank quickly moved to rescind a prize of an afternoon tea with Mr Carney which it said had been won at a different charity auction and reauctioned without permission.

Other senior City figures — both male and female — echoed that view. Anne Richards, chief executive of fund manager M&G said: “Abhorrent though the event was, it has been really encouraging to see how many male colleagues are as outraged and offended by what took place as their female peers.”

Brenda Trenowden, who heads the 30% Club women-in-business lobby, said that despite the negative stereotypes such events reinforce, she was “encouraged by the overwhelming outrage and response”.

David Roberts, chairman of the Nationwide Building Society, said: “My great hope is that the widespread reaction will be a force for good as beliefs and behaviours are challenged, thereby accelerating vital change.”

Are they right? Their optimism certainly appears to reflect a broader mood among female City workers lower down the pecking order. Financial Times reporters involved in covering the story were swamped with thank-you notes from women in finance and business jobs.

A female marketing executive wrote: “So many mistakenly believe that progress is complete. It’s articles like yours that help break down that illusion and focus everyone on the challenges still there to face.”

Another executive said she had worked at similar events 20 years ago, and was alarmed to see they were still going on. “These events were horrible then, and they are despicable now,” she said. “There’s a great deal to be done to ensure women really do get equal pay and this terrible lads culture of business is eradicated.”

But it would be naive to assume bad behaviour will cease. The Presidents Club was one of the more extreme examples of organised misogyny among the financial and business elite but there are still plenty of other over-the-top events.

Rumours of sex and drugs on tap for male attendees of certain dinners are rife — and especially among property moguls, who accounted for the largest share of guests at last week’s dinner.

One senior fund manager told the FT she had routinely been invited to sexist conferences. “These were held in exotic locations or ships like the QE2,” she wrote in an email. “Hostesses were present in the evening to provide the mostly male delegates with dance partners, etc. I was astounded that this was accepted as ‘normal’. As a young woman delegate it ensured that you learnt quickly to leave the group straight after dinner for the safety of your cabin. No networking opportunities for us!”

City figures sought to stress that the example of the Presidents Club was rare and did not reflect the way in which most companies are run.

This type of behaviour is not prevalent in our businesses and [is] certainly totally unacceptable

“This type of behaviour is not prevalent in our businesses and [is] certainly totally unacceptable,” said Dame Alison Carnwath, who chairs property group Land Securities. “I wonder if the person on the omnibus realises that responsible big business behaves properly and is leading reform in this and many other unacceptable practices.”

But while strides have been taken by big City employers over disparities in pay and promotion, a recent analysis by the FT found that women account for just a quarter of senior staff at 50 of the world’s biggest banks, insurers and asset managers, a proportion that has improved only slightly since 2014.

If the immediate impact of the Presidents Club scandal on City behaviour is debatable, what seems more certain is that other parties involved in last week’s event will change their ways.

Mike Rake, the former accountant and BT chairman, who now heads the board of Great Ormond Street Hospital, said the affair should be a wake-up call to the charity sector. “Charities are going to have to be very careful,” Sir Mike said. “People will step up due diligence. There will be an increased focus on who you take money from and how that money is raised.”

Hundreds of charities have accepted an aggregate £20m of donations from the Presidents Club over its 33-year history. GOSH said this week it was returning more than £500k to the club, which said on Wednesday it would close down in the wake of the FT’s revelations.

Other events — even those that are tame by comparison with the Presidents Club — have already signalled plans to pre-empt any accusations of sexism.

Next week’s IFR banking sector awards dinner was to have held an auction run by the same man who performed the function at the Presidents Club dinner. The event will now be run by an alternative host and the organisers have moved away from having all-female hostesses to having a male-female balance.

There are also anecdotal suggestions that customers and shareholders of companies that associate themselves with events like the Presidents Club may vote with their feet.

Dozens of Ocado customers tweeted this week that they would no longer shop with the online grocer, following chief executive Tim Steiner’s attendance at the event.

Staff and investors in WPP, which took a table at the dinner, expressed fury, prompting chief executive Martin Sorrell to pen a detailed apology for the “deep concern and offence” caused both inside and outside the company. Sir Martin pledged that, in future, WPP would only deal with charities directly.

All of this, plus the Presidents Club’s decision to disband, amounts to a potentially significant shift of attitudes in business and finance.

Philip Hampton, the GSK chairman who heads the government-appointed commission on women leaders, said: “The Presidents Club looked out of place by a few decades.”

But data published by his commission in November showed that only 19 per cent of executive committee roles in the FTSE 100 are held by women, suggesting the battle for fair treatment is far from won.

“In my view,” Sir Philip concluded, “the turning point on sexism or harassment will be when women in the City (or Westminster and Hollywood) believe they can complain or whistleblow without any prejudice to their careers or other interests.”