Logo

Wall Street Says No to Holy Day Partying

Published: Nov 29, 2010

 Finance       

With Thanksgiving behind us, the Christmas-to-New Year break is less than a month away. That means many American companies have already hatched plans for their annual holiday parties. However, some firms, including several banks on Wall Street, have again opted to do away with their annual boozing event.

According to The Street, the following five firms will not be hosting holiday parties this year: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Citi and UBS. As for other banks, "Credit Suisse is having a holiday party tied to charity, but the company declined to say where the party would take place or what charities it was supporting. Barclays will be holding its annual children's party, but the location has not yet been announced." Meanwhile, Goldman, Lazard and Deustche Bank "could not confirm if they were having parties."

Presumably, most banks deciding against holding holiday events are doing so due to the negative press that would likely result if they were to stage expensive soirees.

Given that investment banks are still receiving high heat for lavishing their employees with million-dollar bonuses after playing a big part in nearly killing the U.S. economy, and approximately 10 percent of the population is still out of work (November unemployment figures are forthcoming this Friday), it would not be such a hot PR move to spend tens of thousands of dollars for your employees to chug beer and wine and shoot top-shelf liquor for three-plus hours during a supposed "team-building" event.

***