Former Investec traders lose three-year-long bonus battle

7th Aug 2014 13:47

"Fanciful" and "wholly incredible" were the words used by a London high court judge describing the battle between two ex-Investec traders, who lost a three-year-long bonus quarrel with the investment bank, forcing them to pay £1.5m.Andrew Brogden and Robert Reid, the former head and deputy head of Investec's structured equity derivatives desk, accused the bank of not following through an unwritten bonus agreement which would have seen both men receive £6m each.The former traders, who left the bank in 2011, struck the London high court judge as a decent and talented pair, however, due no tangible evidence the court said it could only judge what was fair in terms of contract. "Not only did they seem to me to be sincere and straightforward individuals, but the account they gave does not have the hallmarks of deliberate concoction. It much more likely has its origin in something actually said, however great the distortion in the claimants' recollections," the judge said.Investec dismissed allegations it had orally agreed to pay bonuses to Brogden and Reid according to an "economic value added" formula. The group paid bonuses of £0.15m to Brogden and £0.1m to Reid in June 2011, which both men accepted. Chief executive of Investec London David Van Der Walt said: "This was a baseless claim, and an unwarranted attack on our institution, our culture and values."WS