Morning Coffee: HSBC sent rejected candidates an unfortunate email. Citi compliance officer says she was fired for whistleblowing

efinancialcareers.com:

If you aspire to work for HSBC and have spent hours wooing and being wooed by the bank at recruitment events, been through its recruitment process, and attended some induction events, only to be unexpectedly rejected, you will not be happy. You will be even less happy if HSBC accidentally sends you an email saying it's a shame that you voluntarily withdrew your application.

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This appears to have been what happened to some students in the UK. The Financial Times reports that HSBC bank got cold feet about hiring them because of changes to UK visa rules stating that visa applicants need to be earning £38k ($48k) to be eligible. Some of HSBC's incoming graduate hires weren't due to meet the earnings threshold; it cancelled their offers as a result. 

The afflicted students, who are now left without jobs after their graduate application deadlines passed, told the FT they received automated emails from the bank saying it was “sorry to see [them] go” after they “decided to leave the selection process”. «They are trolling us at this point,” one student observed. A source at HSBC said the bank is looking „into the issue of the automated message.” 

It's not only HSBC who's been withdrawing offers.Big Four firm Deloitte has been doing the same. “Without any back-up jobs and no time to apply to other jobs as I was in my final exam period, I was left stranded by Deloitte with absolutely no warning or prior knowledge about this change. This is an extremely unfair decision,” said one. Fortunately, students going into front office investment banking jobs in London earnsalaries closer to £80k and are therefore immune. 

Separately, following yesterday's revelation that Citi might have