Chris Skinner's blog

Shaping the future of finance

Don’t tell mum I work for a bank … she thinks I’m a pianoplayer in a whorehouse!

Chris Skinner Author Avatar
by
Gerrit-zalm-drag_2793824b

I was going to start this week with a serious blog post, but the ABN AMRO kickoff meeting for 2014 has caught everyone’s attention.  In fact, it’s made everyone note it so much that I’m going to dedicate today’s blog entry to it.

Why did it grab the attention of all?

Because the Chairman of the Bank, Gerrit Zalm, dressed up as a brothel owner to talk about the similarities between a whorehouse and a bank.

Gerrit-zalm-drag_2793824b

Gerrit’s character is Priscilla, his fictitious sister, who runs a successful brothel in Amsterdam.   “Priscilla” claims that her brother had denied her existence due to “jealousy” because he was a mere bank employee while she was a “successful entrepreneur”.

Looking like a sister of Dame Edna Everage, Gerrit claimed parallels can be drawn between prostitution and banking.  Banks can learn a lot from “the best practices in my company” as “my industry has been putting the customer first for centuries while banks have only the discovered this recently”.

Although amusing, it’s amazingly insightful as I have blogged here regularly to debate the fact that banking originated at the same time as prostitution, and that money and sex is what makes the world go around:

Anyways, that’s not what this blog entry is all about.

It’s about the fact that the Sunday Times could not resist using Gerrit Zalm’s coup de grace as a call for the UK bank Chairmen to follow his lead.

Wishing for Douglas Desiree Flint (HSBC), David Davina Walker (Barclays), Win Winona Bischoff (Lloyds) and Philip Philomena Hampton (RBS), the Times used the opportunity to create a great mock-up of these four panto babes.

Times

Finally, if you understand Dutch, here is the complete performance of Priscilla …

Nothing like a joke to start the year is there?

Or is this serious?

After all, the title of my new book was going to be: Don’t tell mum I work for a bank … she thinks I’m a pianoplayer in a whorehouse!

Book

 

Postscript:

This is a fairly common saying but, as Steven points out in a comment below, the first published version is in a book by Paul Carter entitled: Don't tell mum I work on the rigs (she thinks I'm a pianoplayer in a whorehouse)

HumourHistoryCategories
Chris Skinner Author Avatar

Chris M Skinner

Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...

What is the future?

Learn more

Learn more about Chris

About Chris Skinner

The Past, Present And Future Of Banking, Finance And Technology

Fintech expert Chris Skinner: countries need digital transformation to remain competitive

Join me on Linkedin

Follow Me on X!

Hire Chris Skinner for dinners, workshops and more

Learn directly from from one of the most influential people in technology, gain insights from the world's most innovative companies, and build a global network.

Chris’s latest book

Chris Skinner’s ‘Digital For Good’ Book Launch Event – CFTE

Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on FinTech 2023

Chris Skinner
Commentator, CEO of The Finanser and best-selling author at The Finanser

Thinkers360 Thought Leader

Contact Me

Global Awards

Lifetime Achievement Award

Global 100 - 2024 Winner

Chris Skinner - Financial Markets Advisor of the Year - The Finanser - UK 2023

Best Financial Markets Advisor of the Year 2023

30 Best Regtech Blogs and Websites 2023

Kids creating the future bank | TEDxAthens

Captain Cake and the Candy Crew

Captain Cake Winner of a Golden Mom’s Choice Award

TWO-TIME WINNER OF A MOM’S CHOICE GOLD AWARD!

Alex at the Financial Services

Gaping Void's Hugh MacLeod worked with the Finanser