And Mr Agius has never had day-to-day operational responsibility for any bank remotely in its league (he was a corporate-advising investment banker at the London arm of Lazard for most of his career).

BBC: Diamond ��hounded out by MPs��

The MPs accused the firms of then advising corporate clients on how to avoid this legislation.

BBC: Tax chiefs hit back at criticism over avoidance

Bankers who are advising corporate customers on a securities transaction consult their market-making colleagues.

ECONOMIST: Investment banks

Since the firm is one of the biggest investment banks advising corporate America, its example is dispiriting.

ECONOMIST: Transparency in America

Instead of TIPS, Corso is advising clients to buy floating-rate corporate bonds.

FORBES: Worried About Inflation? TIPS Aren't The Answer

That conflict--advising individual investors on share purchases while trying to win investment banking business from corporate clients--led to unseemly initial public offering allocations, overly rosy research and perhaps, in the case of Enron, collusion.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Last week, my firm received mail from IRS advising that their records showed that no payroll tax returns had been filed on behalf of a certain corporate client which I recognized as now defunct.

FORBES: Raising Money From the (Corporate) Dead