Phileas Fogg's followers : knowledge elites in the global financial service industry

Traditionally the financial service industry has been characterised by high mobility barriers due to extensive Government surveillance. Similar barriers have also been existing for its employees, who have tended to be recruited among cautious candidates. Both these circumstances have undergone changes as the working conditions of the industry have altered. An important event in this context is the introduction of modern computer and communication technology. It has to some extent created new barriers to mobility by the requirements for extensive investments, but primarily it has reinforced tendencies of deregulation thereby increasing competition This in turn has implied the creation of new instruments and the need for a new type of employees with another time and risk orientation than earlier. They constitute a new knowledge elite, the introduction of which may be expected to create tensions in traditional financial institutions.