Investment Bankers In Court Over Alleged Sex Offences

The Daily Mail reports that two City bankers have appeared in Southwark Crown Court, accused of having non-consensual sex with a sleeping office worker, who had gone back to one of the banker's flat after a night out.

The bankers are said to have plied the office worker with vodka and then both had non-consensual sex with her. The incident is said to have occurred last August. Both bankers have been named by the newspaper, but it is the policy of Here Is The City not to identify defendants unless they have been found guilty. Both bankers work for well-known City firms.

In other news, Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis is preparing for his trip to Washington before the House Oversight Committee later this week (to discuss the Bank of America takeover of Merrill Lynch). And Bloomberg has got hold of an advanced copy of Lewis's testimony, part of which claims that Federal officials asked BofA to complete the purchase of Merrill as a collapse of the firm could 'hasten a crisis'. Lewis is also expected to say that he became aware of the Q4 losses sustained by Merrill in mid-December, and that he advised regulators of the position as soon as he knew. Reuters is also reporting that the Committee has said that it intends to subpoena the Federal Reserve for documents which may shed further light on the Fed's role in the Merrill takeover.

Finally, The Financial Times reports that Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation chairman Sheila Bair has met with Citi's board in an effort to 'defuse tensions', following rumors that the agency was keen to replace Vikram Pandit as the firm's CEO.