City banker not 'German enough'

Senior bankers wanted to turn the firm "back into a German bank"

A City worker is suing an investment bank for £10m after claiming he was sidelined for a job for "not being German enough".

Malcolm Perry, an Australian national, lost his £2.2m job following restructuring at Dresdner Kleinwort's head office in London last year.

Mr Perry, 45, from Barnes, south-west London, is claiming racial discrimination against the company.

The firm has insisted it was fully committed to equal opportunities.

He told the employment tribunal in central London that he was sidelined and made redundant when senior Frankfurt-based bankers hatched a plot to "turn it back into a German bank".

He admitted that at a meeting in Frankfurt to discuss the restructuring in February 2006, he had been forced to leave early because he was feeling unwell, partly from the effects of drinking too much the night before.

We are a committed equal opportunity employer and will defend ourselves vigorously Dresdner Kleinwort

But he claimed that after he left others present went on to discuss the restructuring in greater detail than was planned.

Days later, he was surprised to see a "fully-fledged implementation plan" for the restructuring of the bank.

A colleague, Bill Fish, who had lived in Germany for a considerable amount of time, spoke fluent German and was well connected within the Frankfurt circles of the bank, appeared to have been promoted from reporting to Mr Perry to running the restructuring process.

Mr Perry said he raised concerns about being marginalised during the restructuring and claimed he was told by a colleague: "Malcolm, they want to turn it back into a German bank".

By the time the restructuring was complete, the division had nine managers, six of whom were German.

In a statement, Dresdner Kleinwort said: "Malcolm Perry left the firm in 2006 during the restructuring of our capital markets division when his position was made redundant.

"We totally reject Mr Perry's allegation of discrimination. We are a committed equal opportunity employer and will defend ourselves vigorously."