Rear Window

UBS, Citi, ANZ and CBA navigate fraught Christmas parties

The investment bankers of Sydney held their year-end dos against a backdrop of complex contextual matters.

Myriam Robin and Mark Di Stefano

Dec 9, 2024 – 5.00am

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For Sydney’s bankers, it just ain’t Christmas without Justin Hemmes.

His Merivale Group has been in the papers over claims of sexual harassment, exploitation and drug use at its high-profile Sydney venues. Hemmes says he’s “devastated” by the allegations. Not that any of this unpleasantness seems to have affected Merivale’s lucrative corporate bookings. It wouldn’t, because Sydney’s finance elite have nowhere else to go.

Myriam Robin is a senior writer based in the Melbourne newsroom. She has previously been a Rear Window columnist and editor, and before that reported on financial markets and media.

Mark Di Stefano is Rear Window columnist, based in the Sydney newsroom. He previously worked at BuzzFeed, the Financial Times and The Information before joining the Financial Review as a media and tech correspondent.