The power of the PA to get more personal

A PA at Merrill Lynch said: "This case has made everyone a lot more wary. It's sad: people are starting to wonder whether they can still trust us."

De-Laurey was convicted in London of 20 counts of stealing through money transfers and forged cheques. Other banking PAs said that if they wanted to siphon funds from their bosses' bank accounts, it would be easy. A former PA at Goldman Sachs who knew De-Laurey said: "She could have got away with it. She had already resigned when she was caught but she wanted a last little bit. She was too greedy.

"These bankers have 10 or 15 different bank accounts and as their PA you usually have access to them all."

Claire Ashley, director of the City of London office of Michael Page, the recruitment firm, said PAs to senior investment bankers typically spend 50% of their time on personal work: "The role can involve organising holidays, looking after properties and buying birthday presents. A PA really is someone's right hand and in many cases will spend more time with them than their spouse."

Giving someone access to an account containing hundreds of thousands or even millions of pounds suggests a huge degree of trust.

It leaves little room for human frailty. A senior banker at a European bank said: "If you work closely with someone for a long time, it's natural to lower your guard. But it is not wise: people forget the corrupting influence of money. If there is a big pot under your nose, the temptation could be to help yourself."

It is not difficult to see why an unscrupulous PA might go astray - their pay is modest. Recruiters say few in the City earn more than 42,000 a year, roughly the same as a graduate analyst straight out of university.

Nicky Foulds, a manager at Morgan McKinley, a recruitment firm which places PAs in investment banks, said it is difficult for them to move into other areas: "Once you have reached the top of the ladder as a PA, it is very hard to move into another role and earn any more money."

One woman who spent more than three years as a PA to a director at a bulge-bracket bank said she found the discrepancy in pay between her and her boss shocking. "I picked up a fax which said my boss had received a bonus of hundreds of thousands of pounds as well as his exorbitant salary. I couldn't believe it: I completely ran his life and they said they couldn't afford to give me a pay rise or any bonus at all."

Angela Chapman, a senior consultant at the recruitment firm Joslin Rowe, said the number of secretaries in the City had fallen and those who remained often worked harder than before.

One PA said she was being asked to do increasing amounts of work for the same money. "The bank cut back on secretarial support and I went from working for one banker to working for 12, all of whom were very demanding."

Judith Kark, principal of St James's & Lucie Clayton College, which offers 10,000 courses in secretarial skills, says fewer young women are becoming PAs than in the past. Her students are also thinking twice about going into investment banks: "At junior levels, City secretarial jobs have become very functional. There is a lot of emphasis on computers and people are expected to serve a whole team, instead of one or two senior individuals. The more interesting roles are now in the West End."

If it is the personal aspects of being a personal assistant that appeals most, there is always the possibility of working for senior bankers on a private basis.

Foulds said this was becoming more common. "Top investment bankers will pay for personal PAs out of their own pockets. They typically work from home offices and do everything from paying school fees to managing second homes." Personal roles can be more lucrative. The Crown Court heard that De-Laurey was asked to work personally for one boss for a salary of 52,000. One woman who works as a PA for two senior bankers said salaries of 50,000 are common.

However, she said the role brings strains of its own: "People who have a lot of money can be very demanding. You have to know how to deal with them. They are usually control freaks who want things done yesterday. You are in their home, so no-one can see them shouting at you."

Working for bankers on a private basis brings added temptations. The PA said: "You are exposed to their lifestyle first hand. These people live like rock stars. If you're not careful, you could easily get caught up in it and want to live like that too."