Graydon Morris

eager to learn

[Graydon Morris @graydonm]

@0xFunX Sterling

[Graydon Morris @graydonm]

@JordiGriff Horrific

[Graydon Morris @graydonm]

@Richard_Spoor @MaxduPreez Amen

[Douglas Wayne @Bound2Liberty]

Redi, your arrogance is breathtaking. You sit there patronising the US Ambassador like he's some wide-eyed tourist who needs a lecture on how to behave in a "sovereign state." You sneer at legitimate fears about "Kill the Boer" as a "lunatic fringe obsession" while the rest of us are just supposed to nod along to your constitutional sermon. Spare us. The song isn't some harmless relic. It has been belted out by ANC and EFF figures for decades. Courts have twisted themselves into knots to declare it non-hate speech. Meanwhile farmers keep dying. Dismissing that as fringe while wrapping yourself in "constitutionalism" is pure gaslighting.

But the hypocrisy here is staggering, it’s what completely unravels your rant: during apartheid, the ANC didn't hesitate for a second to drag the United States into South Africa's domestic affairs. You lobbied Congress relentlessly. You pushed divestment campaigns. You cheered on sanctions. You celebrated when America overrode Reagan to pass the 1986 Anti-Apartheid Act, explicitly rejecting any notion of "sovereignty" when it suited you. Mandela and the movement treated US pressure as a moral imperative to dismantle the regime. Now, when an ambassador politely notes that a genocidal chant sounds like hate speech, suddenly it's outrageous interference? You can't weaponise American power when it helps the ANC and then clutch your pearls the moment it holds you accountable. That is not principled diplomacy. That is selective outrage from someone who knows exactly how the game worked when the shoe was on the other foot. South Africa deserves straight talk, not this arrogant deflection.

[Graydon Morris @graydonm]

@Bound2Liberty Amen

[Graydon Morris @graydonm]

Crazy

[Peter Girnus 🦅 @gothburz]

I run compliance at Deutsche Bank.

My job is to make sure we follow the rules.

I'm very good at my job.

In 2013, a junior analyst flagged a series of transactions.

The transactions were unusual.

The client was unusual.

The client was Jeffrey Epstein.

The analyst wrote a report.

The report was thorough.

It named the client.

It named the transactions.

It named the pattern.

I read the report.

I flagged it.

Not the transactions.

The analyst.

She was "not a cultural fit."

That's not a banking term.

It's an HR term.

HR is where compliance sends its problems.

The transactions continued.

The analyst did not.

For six years, the account remained open.

I signed off on it quarterly.

Quarterly review means I looked at the numbers.

The numbers were large.

Large numbers are good for the bank.

Good numbers don't get flagged.

That's the system.

In 2019, the client was arrested.

I learned this from the news.

Not from our compliance system.

Our compliance system doesn't flag arrests.

It flags analysts.

The client died in custody.

That simplified things.

Dead clients don't generate new transactions.

Existing transactions were already approved.

By me.

In 2023, we paid $75 million.

That sounds like a lot.

It is not a lot.

We made more than that from the account.

The settlement included no admission of wrongdoing.

We admitted nothing.

That is what $75 million buys.

Not innocence.

Silence.

The analyst who flagged the account in 2013 was not part of the settlement.

She was not rehired.

She was not compensated.

She was not mentioned.

She was right in 2013.

She is still unemployed in 2026.

I am still employed.

I was promoted in 2021.

The promotion was for "excellence in risk management."

I managed the risk.

The risk was the analyst.

Now the files are public.

People are reading names.

They are reading transaction records.

They are reading the report the analyst wrote in 2013.

The report I flagged.

The report that got her fired.

It says everything.

It said everything then.

Nobody read it.

I read it.

I flagged the analyst.

The transactions continued.

The analyst did not.

That is compliance.

I have a plaque on my desk.

It says "Integrity First."

It came with the promotion.

[Graydon Morris @graydonm]

@FinancialMail I think about this often. Building one’s own business or career is not dissimilar to long term investing. And eventually, compounding takes over. Keep building, focussing on the Goose. Not the golden egg.

[FinancialMail @FinancialMail]

Q: What is the one thing you wish somebody had told you when you were starting out?

A: That slow, consistent growth is still success. There’s so much pressure to explode overnight, but in reality, building something meaningful takes time and that’s OK.

https://t.co/5Nidj7ksZK

[Graydon Morris @graydonm]

@Finnthehuman80 Amen

[Graydon Morris @graydonm]

@MichaelJordaan Yep backing the last decades winners is seldom a winning strategy

[Graydon Morris @graydonm]

@DanCorderOnAir Just about the most ridiculous logic I’ve ever heard.

[Graydon Morris @graydonm]

@jk_rowling Amen

[Graydon Morris @graydonm]

@XhosaFact @powellemmaloui1 How’s our GDP growth looking?

[Graydon Morris @graydonm]

@powellemmaloui1 @helenzille Unbelievable. Truly.

[Graydon Morris @graydonm]

@bensmithrugby Park the Bus won 2 World Cups. Just saying.

[Graydon Morris @graydonm]

@JohnBla16273034 Good luck with your alternative choices

[Graydon Morris @graydonm]

@jk_rowling You crack me up, love your work

[Graydon Morris @graydonm]

@TheRealClementM Lose power. Loose has another meaning. Are you a journalist?

[Graydon Morris @graydonm]

@DanielKingMWI Well at the end of the day it’s all about authenticity. So no amount of management literature is going to change that.

[Graydon Morris @graydonm]

@Magnesium161962 @chante75967 @helenzille @GaytonMcK Exactly. Duh