The Interview

Compliance versus the legendary client

Martin Trudeau had taken under a week to go from zero to hero for the account managers in Durante Brothers. Buying in with a minimum stake of £50, and claiming to be unemployed, he had left the more “professional” clients behind, in the dust.

On Day 1, a leveraged position in a small cap stock saw his account grow to £1,000, due to the announcement of a juicy takeover by an industry leader, and Martin’s account was upgraded from Bronze to Silver.

On Day 2, the whole amount was reinvested at ten times leverage in selling an oil-related stock. The price collapsed just before 8pm, when OPEC talks reached a hostile stalemate, and Martin’s account was now worth £14,000. He was upgraded to Gold status and assigned an account manager, who spent the next morning trying to get hold of him to discuss what further services might be offered.

The account manager was dismayed to see that the whole account was swiftly reinvested in selling a sleepy blue chip stock, which had a reliable dividend stream and was due to announce what had been widely trailed as stellar results. And at maximum leverage, any uptick in the price would result in the wipeout of Martin’s stash (derailing any future commissions for the account manager).

Instead, just after 2pm, the news wires were ablaze with tales of Boardroom carnage, amid accounting irregularities and outright fraud. By the close of trading, Martin’s account stood at just shy of £100,000.

In the swiftest ascent the team had ever seen, Martin’s relationship was taken over by the Head of Trading, who personally supervised the select band of Platinum clients. Meanwhile, the rest of the team was keen to see what Martin’s next move might be, a few of them toying with tailgating his picks with their external brokers.

By this time alarm bells were ringing all over the Compliance monitoring system. Trade size triggers had been breached, potential money laundering alerts were firing, and insider dealing indicators had breached critical levels.

A template query letter to Martin from the Compliance team drew a most unusual response. Martin appreciated the need for vigilance and the obligation on the surveillance team to investigate anomalous trading patterns. He volunteered to attend the office in person to clear up any misunderstanding and to give a full account of his activities.

Steve Bates, the Head of Compliance, decided to accept the offer, as much as anything for the novelty value of an almost unprecedented face-to-face meeting with a client.

When Martin was led through to the interview room, he had to run the gauntlet of account managers and traders, all keen to catch sight of this sudden star. They were subtly disappointed in this stick-thin, completely bald 30-year-old, dressed head to toe in black.

“Looks like any tech entrepreneur you care to name,” said the Head Trader.

“That probably explains a lot. He must have some AI machine predicting his next trades.”

— Many thanks for coming in to see us, Mr Trudeau, and congratulations on your recent trading success.

— I came in because I want to convince you not to submit a report about my trading.

— We may be jumping ahead a little. We aren’t at the stage of submitting anything. I just wanted to understand your activities a little more.

— I understand your position completely. You aren’t allowed by law to tip me off if you do have suspicions. However, you are legally obliged to submit a Suspicious Activity Report to the National Crime Agency if there is any indication of money laundering or terrorist financing. On the other hand, if you think my trading points to insider dealing, you would have to send a Suspicious Transaction Report to the regulator.

— You seem well-informed on the regulations.

— I come from a very compliant society. I cannot tell a lie.

— I hear that a lot. “Believe me” or “The truth is…”. I’m afraid I have to discount a lot of what I’m told in my line of work.

— Sorry, you misunderstand me. I literally cannot tell a lie, through conditioning and… upbringing. I am taking a big risk in coming to speak with you, but I run an even bigger risk if you ever submit a formal report.

— Help me understand that. If you aren’t doing anything illegal, why would you be worried about the regulators carrying out an investigation?

— Your regulators don’t worry me at all. But lodging a report leaves an audit trail in history that I am keen to avoid. I’m not technically doing anything wrong according to your laws, but I am abusing the trust of my employers in my own time.

— In your own time? Can you explain what you mean, please?

“My anchor date is 2063. In that time, I am employed as a time machine operator. Yes, time travel exists, but its use is reserved by law for military and policing matters. Interventions are carefully planned to leave subsequent events unchanged as much as possible, while snuffing out problems at their root, whether it be criminal activity or political dissidence. To be honest, I don’t know the rules of engagement of the people I send back, and I’d prefer not to think about whether they would kill future troublemakers in the pursuit of policy. But whatever they do seems to work, and I have noticed how our society is becoming more and more tranquil ever since the programme started.

Doing what I do is strictly prohibited, but I have personally sent back dozens of important politicians, who somehow obtained a waiver. They never seem to lack funds for their next campaign. I try to keep my activities under the radar. Pop back for a few weeks, having studied the markets in detail for the target period. Make what I can and send it to an offshore trust fund, which I can access when I’m back in my own time.

In many ways I wish I could stay here, but we can only stretch space and time temporarily. At some stage, like a rubber band, it will flick me back to my anchor time, at the same moment I left. No-one gets more than two weeks in the past, which is why I can’t be subtle about the trading. I need to get as much as possible as quickly as possible.”

After Trudeau had left, Steve filled out the first of his reports for internal consumption.

“Having interviewed the client, I can confirm that there are no remaining suspicions of money laundering, terrorist financing or insider dealing relating to his activities.

However, I recommend closure of his account and return of all funds on grounds of mental instability, in line with our Vulnerable Persons Policy.”

Then he turned to the other more important filing. Sent to a time-locked entry on a server that could not be accessed for decades.

“M. Trudeau confession. See attached audio file.”

No sooner was it sent than Steve heard the satisfying ping from his phone, indicating that a large sum had just been deposited in his personal account.

This was the third time-traveller he had caught, following the protocol that the timecop had laid out for him when he first took up this position.

And they were always quick to express their gratitude.

Many thanks for reading!

More time travel fun below.