Following Citibank’s decision to charge seven employees with breaking client confidentiality, will private banks think twice about poaching staff? Er…no.

The case of 'the Citibank seven' has cast the spotlight on the grey area of how far new private banking hires can go in bringing clients with them, but recruiters say it’s unlikely to change greatly the way banks go about poaching staff from rivals.

Six of the seven ex-Citibank private bankers were sued by the bank in 2006 after moving to UBS. Citi claimed they had taken S$50m-worth of business with them by persuading clients to switch accounts.

Although that case was subsequently settled out of court, the Singaporean government then charged the seven under its Computer Misuse and Banking Acts with breaking client confidentiality rules. This is the first time either act has been used in this way.

If found guilty, the defendants could face up to 20 years in jail and fines of up to S$125k.

Local lawyers are reluctant to speak about the case, as it has still to go to court, but observers have pointed out that it could act as a test case and set a precedent for ensuring the protection of client information.

But there are factors muddying the waters, lawyers point out, including the fact that many of the government’s charges relate to a single email containing a raft of personal data, rather than any over-arching point of principle.

The consensus among recruiters is that the seven are unlikely to be jailed, but may be hit with hefty fines.

And it's believed the government 's aim is not to curb banks from poaching people, but simply to draw a line in the sand (some say rather heavy-handedly) about what is and what is not acceptable practice.

“It is a warning shot across everyone’s bows to be more sensible about it,” one Singapore recruiter, who did not want to be named, tells eFinancialCareers.

It will be up to recruiters to counsel bankers more closely about what they can and cannot do when they resign, argues another headhunter.

“It has made people more careful. They were ill advised,” he adds.

Ultimately the case is unlikely to change the expectation that when you move banks you will, in some shape or form, bring clients, or at the very least their goodwill, with you, argues Dudley Edmunds, of recruiter Culliford Edmunds Associates.

“The general rule is that you cannot canvas clients directly. But you might ring up and say, I am moving to a new bank and will not be able to look after you from now on – but this happens to be my new number,” he explains.