"I worked for a nepotistic French bank in London that did not offer high severance pay"
Articles published on this site recently suggest that French banks are pleasant places to work. I would just like to share my experience of this world.
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I was a senior person at a French bank that's cutting costs in London, and I was let go earlier this year. I did not receive huge severance pay. I got only a few months' pay, for reasons related to a change of role that I can't go into.
My time at the bank was one of battling internal politics. When you work for a French bank in London, no matter how successful you are, you are always secondary to the senior people in France. This can cause a lot of infighting and is exhausting.
In my experience, the bank also had a problem with nepotism. Someone highlighted this here a few years ago, and in my view it has got worse since. It often seemed to me that connections counted for more than qualifications when people were appointed, and that some favoured individuals were protected when teams faced redundancy.
Personally, I am glad to be out.
Freddie Chapman is a pseudonym
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