Third Banker Commits Suicide Within a Week

A third banker has committed suicide within the space of a week, once again prompting speculation that some kind of financial collapse could be just around the corner.

“Mike Dueker, the chief economist at Russell Investments, was found dead at the side of a highway that leads to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington state, according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department. He was 50,” reports Bloomberg.

Dueker fell down a 50 foot embankment in what police are describing as a suicide. He was reported missing on January 29 by friends, who said he had been “having problems at work.”

Dueker’s apparent suicide follows those of London banking executives Gabriel Magee and Bill Broeksmit.

Magee, a 39-year-old senior manager at JP Morgan’s European headquarters, jumped 500ft from the top of the bank’s headquarters in central London on Tuesday, landing on an adjacent 9 story roof.

Last Sunday, former Deutsche Bank executive Broeksmit was found dead at his South Kensington home after police responded to reports of a man found hanging at a house. According to reports, Broeksmit had “close ties to co-chief executive Anshu Jain.”

In addition, a U.K.-based communications director at Swiss Re AG also died last week but the cause of death has not been made public.

Banker suicides would be expected in the aftermath of a major stock market collapse, but the Dow Jones hit a record high just last month, although recent days have seen markets suffer heavy losses.

Some have speculated that the suicides could be related to a flurry of recent indications that some kind of major financial crash is approaching.

Earlier this week, Russian lender ‘My Bank’ banned all cash withdrawals until next week, while UK-based HSBC imposed capital controls on customers attempting to withdraw larger sums of money.

Are the spate of banker suicides merely a coincidence, or do they point to something rotten in the heart of the financial system which has yet to be revealed to the public?