There have been many departures from investment banking this year but doubtless staff around Citbank in London will be mourning the loss of Nicola T from their compliance department more than many.
The 20-year-old is moving on to bigger and better things after winning tabloid newspaper the Sun’s Page 3 Idol competition. She has landed a holiday in Barbados and a 12-month modelling contract.
At 5ft 5in and with 34DD where it counts, she was obviously wasted in compliance, despite making a go of it and studying for her exams. “No-one likes compliance people but sometimes it can be really interesting,” she says of her old job. “But I didn’t want to stay in an office all day. That’s not me.”
Nicola had been with Citibank for five months after stints with Merrill Lynch and Royal Bank of Scotland. She never planned a career in banking – “It was just luck really.”
Now, after getting 25,000 votes from Sun readers – 5,000 more than her nearest rival – she’s looking forward to a year in the limelight that kicked off with a night among the stars at the London premiere of The Two Towers.
Citibank confirmed that Nicola worked there, though she kept her promise to the bank not to reveal its name. “They’ve been pretty good, although not exactly supportive,” she says of Citibank. So why did the bank ask her to keep its name out of the papers? “Maybe they were worried that the people who invest their money with them didn’t want staff doing this sort of thing,” she ponders.
But there was no lack of support from colleagues. “They all rang up to vote for me, although obviously on their own phones because they couldn’t ring premium numbers from the office.”
Nicola says they are not jealous of her success and attributes their support to a maternal instinct. “Most of the girls there are in their 30s and they look at me as their daughter in a way. They’re all really happy for me.”
Front End is sure Sandy Weill will be too.
