Sacked bond trader Patrick O’Connor drops ANZ action

Patrick O’Connor says he is unwilling to put his family through the strain of a court battle.

ANZ Tower Penthouse at 161 Castlereagh Street

One of the bankers suing ANZ for unfair dismissal and claiming a “toxic culture” was rife at the bank has walked away from his legal ­action with no cash settlement.

Patrick O’Connor, a former bond trader who was sacked from the bank last year over the alleged misuse of a corporate credit card, has dropped his unfair dismissal case against ANZ despite previously claiming he would fight the bank in court.

In what is a victory for the bank in the first of two unfair dismissal cases being brought against it, ANZ said last night that no payment had been made to Mr O’Connor and that each side had paid their own legal costs.

“The dispute with Patrick O’Connor has ended, with Mr O’Connor deciding to discontinue his legal action against ANZ,” the bank said in a statement. “No payment will be made by ANZ to Mr O’Connor and each party will meet their own legal costs.

“ANZ is committed to taking disciplinary action where it finds instances of unacceptable behaviour. This includes an uncompromising stance with former employees where the bank considers legal disputes instigated by them to be without merit.”

Mr O’Connor said in a ­statement that he had decided to ­withdraw the claim because of the financial and emotional strain it would have placed on his family.

“I have thought long and hard about the undoubted very difficult fight ahead and the financial and emotional resources needed to continue my legal action,” Mr O’Connor said. ­

“Reluctantly, taking many matters into consideration, I have decided that I am not prepared to put my family through that and so I have today instructed my lawyers to discontinue the case.”

A 10-year employee of the bank and former head of fixed ­income sales, Mr O’Connor was dismissed in October last year for alleged misuse of a corporate ­credit card and breaches of communications policy.

ANZ alleged Mr O’Connor misused his corporate credit card to the tune of about $37,500. The credit card bill included thousands run up on hotels, restaurants and bars throughout inner Sydney.

Mr O’Connor also allegedly talked about women eating sushi off his naked body and discussed “gang bangs” on work messaging systems, according to the bank.

However, Mr O’Connor claimed that ANZ “created, supported and encouraged” the “toxic and unsafe culture” at the bank.

In a statement two weeks ago, Mr O’Connor said he would ­expose wrongdoing among “senior ranks of the ANZ bank”.

In a separate case, former global desk trader Etienne Alexiou — who was on a package of $5 million — is suing the bank for $30m, alleging unfair dismissal.

Both men claimed in allegations aired in Fairfax newspapers that a “culture” of out-of-control behaviour was rife among the upper echelons of the bank and particularly on the global markets desk.

The Weekend Australian under­stands that ANZ was determined not to settle Mr O’Connor’s case with any cash payment, and will continue with a hard line strategy in Mr Alexiou’s case.

Mr Alexiou was stood down, along with six others, with full pay in late 2014 as part of an investi­gation by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission into the possible rigging of the Bank Bill Swap Rate (BBSW).

A former Barclays Bank senior trader, Mr Alexiou was dismissed as ANZ’s head of mismatch trading permanently in August last year after being investigated for more than 400 communications that the bank alleges breached its code of conduct.

While ANZ is yet to release its defence in the Alexiou case, it is expected to do so next week.

The defence is believed to be the ­internal communications that saw Mr Alexiou stood down from the bank, and ANZ is confident the content of those internal messages and emails will show his dismissal was justified.

New ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott vowed last week to tackle any unacceptable behaviour “head-on”.

Mr Elliott, who took the reins from Mike Smith on January 1, said the bank’s conduct underpinned its reputation, and its reputation with customers and the community was “everything”.

“My commitment to you is that we will tackle any instances of unacceptable behaviour head-on, wherever it happens at ANZ,” Mr Elliott told staff in a memo.