Four staff sacked for taking clients to a strip-club

The newspaper said the male workers were technology-industry specialists who visited a strip-club with clients during a conference held by the firm in November in Phoenix, Arizona.

Morgan Stanley has so far refused to comment on the claims, saying only that “we don’t think it’s appropriate to comment on personnel matters”.

Using “adult entertainment” to butter up clients was once seen as an acceptable activity in the financial sector, but a series of high-profile gender discrimination cases has seen businesses clamping down on visits to such venues.

Morgan Stanley paid $54m (£30.7m) in July 2004 to settle claims that it discriminated against women through pay rises and promotions, had excluded them from company events, and subjected them to lewd behaviour. The firm denied wrongdoing as part of that settlement.