The Root of Money

9

9A blend of lemon-scented furniture polish and lavender air freshener lingered in the small conference room. Girardi toggled the speakerphone to call Leslie Kaplan, IAB’s Head of Retail Banking, but declined a recorded invitation to leave his name and number.

“That woman is never on time,” Girardi grumbled, not quite to himself. “I know you are all busy, so we won’t wait any longer.”

“Perry, I would like to—” Woo’s maneuver was cut short by Girardi.

“Please let me kick this off, Grace. You can have your say as we get into the specifics of Carrier’s proposal.”

Tek wondered if Girardi overheard his confrontation with Woo.

“As succinctly as you can,” Girardi looked squarely at Tek, “give us an overview of your proposal.”

Although he thought he was prepared, the moment caught Tek off guard.

“Thank you,” Tek began. “What you have in front of you is a copy of last quarter’s wire transfer tracking report. I know you are all familiar with it, so I’ll just give you the highlights.” Tek noticed that everyone, other than his boss, was flipping through the papers. “During these three months our offices in the United States executed outbound wire transfers totaling almost a billion dollars, that’s billion with a B.”

Woo spread her arms out to her side, palms turned up. “We’re an international bank. What did you expect?”

“Grace, please,” Kilpatrick admonished. He nodded at Tek to go on.

“Our programs scrub this data to identify transactions that might represent money laundering activity,” Tek looked at Kilpatrick before continuing, “and our Compliance Department does a great job analyzing the information.”

Tek received a smile of appreciation from Kilpatrick.

“The thing is, since we are only looking at payments made through our offices in the United States we’re not getting the full picture of the flow of money.” Tek paused. “We have more than twice the number of offices overseas as we do in the States. All of them do wire transfers too.”

As he looked around to gauge the reaction Leslie Kaplan entered the room.

“Sorry for being late…branch business,” she said.

“Have a seat,” Girardi directed. “Mr. Carrier was summarizing why he called us here today.”

“As I was saying,” Tek continued, “we have two times as many offices overseas as we do here. Since only some of their payments go through New York, we could, and in my opinion should, be evaluating all of their payments for possible money laundering as well.”

Almost before his last word, Kaplan jumped in. “I think that’s an excellent idea.”

“It’s a little more complicated than that,” Kilpatrick stated. “Actually, it’s a lot more complicated. We’ve carefully crafted our policies and processes to do what the government wants, which is considerable. If we go shooting off on tangents we run the risk of having problems with our regulators. ”

“I think there’s more to it than just doing what we are told to do,” Tek jumped in. “Let me show you.” As he reached into his valise he was distracted by Woo crumpling papers.

“We’ve heard you out,” she asserted. “I have plenty of things I need you to do that do not include taking up our time with things that are not necessary.”

Everyone searched for their tongues until Tek reached for a trump card. “Grace, where were you working in 1993?”

The Chief Technology Officer leaned forward in her chair, folding her hands tightly on the table. “You know darn well where I was working!”

“Humor the rest of us, Grace,” Girardi said. “Where were you in 1993?”

“Here of course,” she boiled. “You all know I’ve been here for over thirty years. What’s your point?”

Tek felt her sting but observed a flash of understanding cross her face.

“Sorry, what I mean is, where was your office in 1993? February 1993 to be exact.” Tek’s question had the tone of a first date query rather than a prosecuting attorney.

“You know the answer to that, so why are you asking?”

“Where were you, Grace?” Kaplan asked with genuine curiosity.

Woo leaned back, resigned to continue the line of inquiry. “I was in our technology area that was located in the second tower of the World Trade Center.”

A blanket of empathy descended over the room.

“I know, Grace. I was there too,” Tek commiserated. “In case anyone else has forgotten the date, it was when the World Trade Center was first attacked by a car bomb in a sub-basement parking lot.”

“How could we forget?” Kilpatrick added.

“I don’t know, but it seems like we have,” Tek replied firmly and turned to face his boss.

“Grace, would you like to describe what happened to us that day?”

“No, I’ll let you go on.” Woo did not hide her annoyance.

Tek swallowed a mouthful of air and exhaled it audibly.

“We were on the forty-fourth floor,” Tek said. “When the sirens went off we were told to evacuate the building immediately. No one knew what happened or what was going on. The elevators stopped running, so we had to use the stairwells.”

“They were packed. People rushing, pushing, in a panic,” Woo illustrated the narrative.

“That’s right,” Tek continued. “Forty-four floors, the going was very slow. A lot of people were crying, older people, people with health problems were having trouble, others were assisting them. It took forever to get down.”

“I had a very badly sprained ankle from a skiing accident.” Woo sounded introspective. “I had a soft cast on it.” She looked at Tek, her expression markedly softer. “I needed help to get downstairs.”

Tek smiled at her recollection.

“By the time we got to the street it was filled with fire engines and police cars, ambulances too,” Woo reflected. “A lot people were being helped, getting oxygen, treated for cuts and other injuries. People were covered with soot. It was bedlam.”

“But we made it down. Thankfully no one from our office was seriously hurt,” Tek finished.

All eyes were on Woo.

“I appreciate what everyone did that day but we have to deal with the realities of today.”

“Tek, your suggestion is well intentioned,” Kilpatrick picked up the thread. “However, we must also consider the best interest of the bank. That means—” He was interrupted by the hand of the Chief Operating Officer on his arm.

“Let me say this.” Girardi looked each person in the eye. “What Carrier has reminded us is that we live in a dangerous world and he is asking us to consider a greater sense of responsibility. I think his proposal has merit beyond our duties here.”

Woo’s attention snapped back from her rumination. She straightened and leaned toward Girardi.

“That’s a noble sentiment, but it doesn’t alter the fact that our resources are tied up and will remain tied up in the foreseeable future.” She paused to look at Tek. “We cannot simply abandon our responsibilities here to try to put the pieces of this world back together. If anyone is inclined to do so I suggest they call Homeland Security to see if there are any job openings.”

“Do you need me here any longer?” Kaplan, who had been scrolling through her phone, spoke without raising her head. “I’ve been trying to connect with a potential new customer.”

Girardi replied through a snarl, “No, Leslie. Thank you for stopping by.”

His sarcasm sailed over her head before she left the room.

“Tek, thank you for elevating our perspective on the subject.” Girardi moved his eyes from Kilpatrick to Woo. “This is something we’ll need to discuss further amongst ourselves.”

Tek was not prepared for an early dismissal. “I’ve gathered some more information that I want to…” Tek spoke quickly as he reached into his valise for additional material.

Girardi stood and extended his hand to Tek, indicating his departure was imminent. “I would be happy to look at anything else you have. Just leave it in my office or email it to me if you prefer.”

“I’ll do that.” Tek’s disappointment was apparent. As his hand found the door knob, he turned to face the room. “Just one more thought…this isn’t as much about the past as it is our future.” It was a line he had rehearsed.