I, like many others, have endured my fair share of unhealthy experiences within financial institutions and I am also aware of those characters I now know who would betray me and the company for their own gain.

It is those people with whom I shared those experiences who are now trusted friends for life. I may not see or talk to them every week or even every month. But I know, and they know, if any of us needed some advice, help or just a catch up we were always there for each other.

When I attend conferences months or even years later, and they were there, it was like picking up right where we left off last time, as if we were family, because we all knew where the skeletons were and where the bad actors were now plying their deceitful practices.

But we all agreed that we would never whistleblow because we knew we would never be able to work in the industry again and the lack of support from the Regulators meant that we would all be dismissed as ‘disgruntled ex employees’.

I will not name any individuals, you know who you are and you have, in my opinion, class, integrity and a moral compass that allows you to sleep better with the profound security that in the morning you will still have the courage to continue working in an industry that has a tarnished reputation.

We stand together and will maintain our integrity through the dark times. Our bond that has been forged under fire is stronger than any other.