Blackberries relegated to the hold

Investment bankers have a famously intimate relationship with their blackberries and laptops. The current terrorist threat looks set to prise them apart.

The globe-trotting banker's best friends are now obliged to reside in the hold of planes, preventing last minute touch-ups and fine-tuning of client presentations.

Banks said it's too early to say exactly what the impact of the restrictions - which could prove enduring - will be.

The head of human resources at one US bank told eFinancialCareers she was working on a policy to deal with the situation, but that it won't be ready until next week. "It's going to be tough," she confessed. "I don't think there's any way we can discourage staff from flying - it's a fact of business life. This will just make them less efficient."

Another HR head said people who were put off flying by the current terror alert had been advised not to do so, but that client visits would render air travel unavoidable. "People will take a sensible view on whether the working time lost will make flying worthwhile."

A spokesperson for another bank said: "It's not clear what's going to happen, but clearly the bank will do whatever it takes in respect to safety and what's good for everybody."

For the moment it looks like senior bankers will have to make do with in-flight entertainment during transatlantic journeys.

Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan and Dresdner Kleinwort, declined to comment