扎爾姆男扮女裝向員工傳授能從妓院經營中學到什麼

Has an alternative asset ever performed better? Dressed like a Dutch version of legendary comic character Dame Edna Everage, ABN Amro’s chairman has taken to the stage to teach his employees the lessons they can learn from operating a brothel.

還有任何另類資產能“表現”得比這更好麼？荷蘭銀行(ABN Amro)董事長蓋裏特•扎爾姆(Gerrit Zalm)把自己裝扮成傳奇喜劇人物埃德娜•埃弗烈治夫人(Dame Edna Everage)的荷蘭版，並走上了舞臺，向員工傳授能從妓院經營中學到什麼。

Priscilla Zalm, the fictional sister of Gerrit Zalm, 61, the former Dutch finance minister and chairman of the state-owned bank since 2009, has been drafted in to motivate ABN’s 23,000 employees with a combination of wit, charm and daring innuendo.

自2009年起，這位現年61歲的荷蘭前財長就一直擔任這家國有銀行的董事長。他在臺上虛構了一個妹妹普麗西拉•扎爾姆(Priscilla Zalm)，希望以機智、有吸引力而大膽的影射方式，激發荷蘭銀行2.3萬名員工的積極性。

In the opening act of six performances this month, brothel owner Priscilla told her audience that she was blessed with a good front office – pointing to her bosom – and a top notch back office. She was, she said with a knowing look, working in a “flourishing business with a centuries’ long tradition”.

在本月六場演出的第一幕中，“妓院老闆娘普麗西拉”告訴她的觀衆，她幸運地擁有出色的前端辦公室（同時指向她的乳房）及頂尖的後勤辦公室。她帶着一種心照不宣的表情說，她在“一個有着幾百年悠久傳統、十分繁榮的行當”裏工作。

Dressed in blue, with ginger hair, red lipstick and extravagant glasses, Priscilla said her brother had given up working and decided to “lead” instead, which had the advantage of earning him more money.

普麗西拉穿着藍色衣服，頂着薑黃色頭髮，塗着紅色脣膏並戴着誇張的眼鏡。她說，她哥哥已放棄工作，決定轉向“領導崗位”，這樣的好處是能多賺些錢。

Mr Zalm, known to be a rather sombre and dry chairman, may have taken an unorthodox approach to rallying his troops, but his star turn might have a serious point in emphasising the need for strong values in a bank with a troubled past.

扎爾姆據說是一位相當嚴肅而無趣的董事長，他採取另類辦法或許是爲了讓團隊振作起來。不過，他這次挑大樑唱主角或許還有其嚴肅的一面，就是爲了強調：強大的價值觀對一家歷經困境的銀行而言十分重要。

Peter Hahn, a senior fellow at Cass Business School, said: “The reality is that banks’ shares have done relatively well, and should it continue, bonuses could come back up and all the discipline shown by the banks in recent years could be lost.”

卡斯商學院(Cass Business School)資深研究員彼得•哈恩(Peter Hahn)表示：“現實是，銀行股目前表現相對不錯，如果這種狀況持續下去，銀行的獎金水平將再次提高，而近年來表現出的所有自律可能會喪失。”

The taxpayer-owned bank already had a theatrical run in 2012 when its rise and fall was dramatised by the Dutch National Theatre in De Prooi, or The Prey, based on the book of the same name.

2012年，這家國有銀行已有過一次舞臺經歷。當時，荷蘭國家大劇院(Dutch National Theatre)將一本名爲《獵物》(De Prooi)的書改編成一部同名戲劇，描述了該行的起起落落。

ABN was once so dominant in the Netherlands that it referred to itself simply as De Bank. But after an ill-judged overseas expansion it was acquired by rivals RBS, Santander and Fortis in 2007.

荷蘭銀行在荷蘭一度首屈一指，以至於曾直接用“銀行(De Bank)”指代自己。然而，在一次判斷失誤的海外擴張之後，該行於2007年被競爭對手蘇格蘭皇家銀行(RBS)、桑坦德銀行(Santander)和富通銀行(Fortis)收購。