Signature Solution

Jane is a young probationary member of staff in the settlements team of a small regional stockbroker, which she joined a few months ago, straight from school.

Although she feels reasonably confident that she can deal with most of the requirements of her job, she is a little nervous when, one day, two of her team colleagues are unexpectedly absent as the result of a seasonal virus, leaving her as the sole member of the team, apart from her supervisor Robert.

On Friday afternoon, Robert had to leave the office for an emergency dental appointment which had been agreed by Bill the Office Manager and Jane was left alone, having been told that Bill was on hand if she needed help. As she checked through the outstanding items later in the day, Jane was concerned to discover that an outstanding purchase instruction from Lord Bewick, one of the firm’s key clients, to buy 100,000 shares in Gov Bank at a price of 22p is due for settlement that day.

The market in Gov Bank shares is extremely volatile and there had been a sharp increase in the price since the client gave his instructions. Jane was very worried that failure to settle the transaction might cost the firm a lot of money if the transaction was not completed and they had to re-buy the shares at a higher price and that, as a result, she may fail her probation.

Jane decided to ring the bank, which held the firm’s client money account to see whether she could get them to act on her payment request over the phone and although she has a good relationship with the bank, they told her that they would act only if they received electronic confirmation in the next 15 minutes, which must be signed by two authorised signatories of Jane’s firm, in accordance with their mandate. Conscious of the time ticking away Jane quickly prepared the instruction and in Robert’s absence looked for Bill, her Office Manager and one of the firm’s other managers to sign the electronic confirmation. She successfully got the signature of Piers, an investment manager, who was the only person that she could find and who commented that he was not surprised that Jane could not find Bill as he was still at “lunch” with the branch Director!

Jane was very worried as it was now 15.45, when she saw on Robert’s desk, a signed instruction for a different transaction, but which contained the necessary signatures. Quickly she scanned the document, copied the signature section and pasted it on to her own document. Satisfied that once it had been transmitted and printed at the other end it would stand a quick scrutiny, she sent it off. Jane followed up the electronic confirmation with a phone call to the bank and was told that the instruction was received in the nick of time and that they would make the payment.

On Monday, Jane came in to work and Robert asked her how things went on Friday, expecting to be told that all was quiet in the office as it was Friday afternoon. Jane told him about Lord Bewick’s Gov Bank settlement situation and the difficulty that she had in getting signatures, explaining how she had dealt with the matter, expecting to be congratulated for using her initiative. Instead, Robert responded by saying ‘that was a novel way of dealing with things’.

Jane explained that she had obtained Piers’ signature, which was the only one available and, in any case, she had the client’s instructions and failure to complete the transaction not only would have been costly for the firm, but would also have made them look incompetent in the eyes of a valued client. She believed that what she had done was simply acting in the best interests of the firm. Besides, she had spoken to the bank on Friday and they were happy that they had received a valid instruction, so there was no problem with them and the only person who appeared concerned was Robert. In any case, Jane said that she could hardly have obtained Bill’s signature without going out to the pub!