Aitken-ANZ stoush escalates

Former Bell Potter broker Angus Aitken has demanded through a lawyer that ANZ delete its tweet about him.

The stoush between ANZ Bank and ex-Bell Potter head of institutional sales Angus Aitken has escalated, with Mr Aitken demanding through a law firm the bank delete a controversial tweet by a senior ANZ executive.

It is understood that ANZ told Mark O’Brien Legal, on behalf of Mr Aitken, that the bank supported the position of its corporate affairs boss Paul Edwards and there was no intention of deleting the tweet.

The legal exchange is a dramatic escalation of events that led to Mr Aitken’s abrupt departure from Bell Potter on Thursday.

The day before, Mr Edwards asked on Twitter whether sexism was alive and well in stockbroking, after Mr Aitken said in an email to clients that ANZ’s appointment of Michelle Jablko as chief financial officer was “one of the dumber appointments I have seen” (full text here).

Mr Edwards also wondered if the same note would have been written about a similarly qualified man.

In his email, Mr Aitken said that investment bankers “tend to be crap at most things in the listed world”.