Anger needs to be relieved

Amaitis is hardly the only temperamental person working in financial services. Mike Fisher, who runs the British Association of Anger Management, says about 25% of people attending his courses work in investment banks or fund managers, far more than any other sector.

He has treated more than 200 people from financial services. Many are referred by their employers, who are willing to pay the fees in order to turn angry staff into calm ones.

Fisher says: "Banking culture, which is driven by high levels of intensity and stress, is a wonderful fuel for creating and perpetuating anger, whether passive or aggressive." Many of his clients are in senior roles. Aggressive managerial techniques, which worked well when they were more junior, are no longer appropriate.

Aggression is amplified in areas like sales and trading. Amaitis told the judge during the constructive dismissal compensation hearing in London that shouting and swearing at employees was all part of the passion of the business.

An equities trader at a US bank, who is also a qualified psychologist, says the pressures of the trading floor can give rise to primitive behaviour. But he says rows blow over quickly: "Flare-ups are considered the natural course of the business. They tend to be resolved without lasting problems. We try to cultivate an environment in which this will not happen."

He says the situation has worsened since markets turned down and electronic trading was introduced. "People are less tolerant of each other and there are fewer outlets for frustration. People tend to interact less at work, so they offload anger in bars or when they get home."

Fisher agrees. He tells of one client, a successful trader, who was nudged accidentally by a drinker in a bar after a difficult day. The trader nudged back and was nudged again, before he lost his temper and smashed his glass in the face of the other man, nearly blinding him.

Fisher's solution is to encourage people to broaden their expressed emotions. He says: "People who are angry only display one thing - anger. They should learn how to communicate other feelings such as disappointment, sadness or betrayal."

He advises people to have an "anger buddy", a friend outside work who can listen to their feelings.

Fisher says many bankers attend his courses when the situation is already out of control. Few banks are willing to deal with the problem early because they are reluctant to admit there is one.

Many, however, are happy to support another and distinctly more physical form of what many people see as anger management therapy: white collar boxing. The sport, in which staff in sedentary professions like banking, law and accounting take to the boxing ring to slug it out against each other, has taken off in Europe in recent years.

The London-based Real Fight Club has 800 members and sponsors have included Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and Amaitis's employer Cantor Fitzgerald.

Alan Lacey, who runs the club, says: "Hitting a bag gets out all your frustrations; it is a productive way of releasing aggression. Being in the ring really makes you feel alive. There is nothing better to make you forget about everything else than a fist flying at you."

Bankers are particularly suited to boxing, Lacey says. "A lot of people are chained to the desk. There is plenty of intellectual work, but no visceral stimulation. Boxing addresses those visceral needs."

Freddy Crossley, a stockbroker at Charles Stanley, recently fought in a charity match involving a fund manager and a researcher from HSBC and a recruitment consultant from Robert Walters. "Fighting is relaxing simply because you have to be terribly fit. If you're not, you will get hurt," he says.

White collar boxers are expected to leave their emotions outside the ring. Lacey admits staging a fight between a fired employee and his former boss, in which the former employee triumphed. Normally fights are between strangers. "We don't want to be the outlet for office politics." This is unfortunate. More boxing matches might result in fewer court cases.