Few areas of the capital markets are as dominated by the old school tie and boyish bad behaviour as the inter-dealer broking community. It's an industry that, rightly or wrongly, is still seen by many as the last place you can land a job without having a degree.
So Michael Spencer, CEO of Icap, the world's largest voice and electronic brokerage for fixed income, should perhaps be praised for his voluntary efforts to encourage under-represented groups, such as women, into going after City jobs.
Little did he know that such efforts could yield such embarrassing results.
Icap is set to merge with electronic dealing platform Brokertec, in a deal that will become operational in September. So it was fitting that Spencer should make a keynote speech at a conference on electronic trading hosted by Brokertec in London.
Spencer is a well-known character in the City, with a reputation for a rich sense of humour. No surprise, then, that he started his speech by telling the audience about a presentation on working in finance he had made at an all-girls school.
After his speech, he said, he struck up a conversation with someone whom he described as a very attractive young lady.