Circle of delegation
That magical power by which a subordinate engineers the levers of the universe so that the task which she has been assigned falls irrevocably in the lap of her line manager.
How organisations work
[ONE]
Me: Hi Mary. could I pick your brains today about fee rebates under Mifid 2?
Mary: Hi Olly, the best person for fees & charges Qs would be either Matthew (Regs Team) or Mark (Legal), since they've followed MIFID II for a lot longer. M
[Matthew is out of the office. Let’s try Mark. TWO]
Me: Mark - Hi - I'm in IB legal - Mary gave me your name. i gather you're an expert on MiFID ii re fees and charges in AM?
Mark: Costs and charges? I'm not the expert! This is under the Investor Protection part of the program. That is run by Luke.
[Luke is out of the office.]
Me: Great, thanks. Luke seems to be out of the office - does he have a deputy?
Mark: I think Joan is the business analyst on the costs and charges work-stream ... If she isn’t I think she'll point you in the right direction.
[THREE]
Me: Hi Joan - Mark tells me you're the business analyst on the costs and charges work stream for MIFID 2? I'm really interested in getting the buy-side view of fee retrocessions and rebates in MIFID 2. Would you have a few minutes to discuss?
Joan: Can we do on Friday next week? Can you give some more background on your question.
Me: Actually I was hoping to speak today. A 10 minute call - perhaps with someone in your team? - should help contextualise the question and may indeed answer it.
Joan: Sure. Speak to Andrea.
[FOUR]
Me: Andrea! Hi! we are investigating the MiFID 2 implications re inducements and conflicts of interest
I am told by Joan that you're the subject matter expert on this! Would you have a moment to speak today?
Andrea: Hi Olly - I look after the cost and charges disclosures under MiFID II. Anthony looks after inducements. If you are referring to conflict of interest under inducements Anthony would look after that.
[FIVE]
Me: Anthony! Hi! we are investigating the MiFID 2 implications re inducements and conflicts of interest as we understand these are being considerably tightened up in practical guidance over the MiFID 1 regime notwithstanding the text being quite similar. Andrea tells me that you're the subject matter expert on this! Would you have a moment to speak today?
Anthony: Hi. We have broken the inducements workstream under MiFID 2 into two: non-monetary on one hand and monetary on the other. I look after non-monetary. Monetary is Thomas.
[SIX]
Me: Thomas! Hi! we are investigating the MiFID 2 implications re inducements and conflicts of interest as we understand these are being considerably tightened up in practical guidance over the MiFID 1 regime notwithstanding the text being quite similar. Thomas tells me that you're the subject matter expert on monetary inducements! Would you have a moment to speak today?
Thomas: have you tried Mary?