Editorial standards

These rules govern everything published on bankseason.com. They are written down so a reader can hold us to them and so a new hire has something to read on day one. Where a rule is broken, the fix is a published correction, not a quiet edit.

Sourcing

Every factual claim in a Bank Season story traces to a document, a dataset or a named person who was in a position to know. Reporters keep the underlying material, and an editor can ask to see it at any point before or after publication. A claim that cannot survive that request does not run.

• Numbers are sourced to the primary release, not to another outlet's summary of it.
• Every figure carries its unit, its period, and the date it is good as of.
• Estimates are labelled as estimates, with the estimator named.
• Where two credible sources disagree, we publish both figures and say why they differ.
• Screenshots, charts and tables are built from the series we cite, not redrawn from a third party image.

Anonymous sources

Anonymity is granted to protect a person from real consequence, such as losing a job or breaching a legal duty, and for no other reason. It is not granted so that someone can attack a competitor safely, talk a position up, or float a trial balloon on behalf of an employer. A reporter who wants to use an unnamed source must tell an editor who the person is and why they cannot be named.

When we do use one, the story says what the person is in a position to know and what their interest in the subject is. A phrase like a person familiar with the matter is close to useless on its own, so we describe the seat rather than the name: a creditor on the committee, an executive who saw the draft terms, a regulator who reviewed the filing.

Market sensitive information

If a reporter obtains information that would plausibly move a price before it is public, the story goes to the markets editor before anything else happens. Nobody at Bank Season trades on it, mentions it outside the newsroom, or shares a draft with a source for comment beyond the specific claim being put to them.

We put every material adverse claim to the subject and give them a stated deadline to respond. The deadline is proportionate to the story: hours for a fast moving market event, days for an investigation. If the subject declines to comment, the story says so. If they respond after publication with something substantive, we update the piece and timestamp the update.

Embargoes

We honour embargoes we have agreed to and we do not agree to embargoes that come with conditions attached to the coverage. An embargo that arrives unrequested in an email, with no prior agreement, does not bind us. If a competitor breaks an embargo, or the information is already public elsewhere, the desk is free to publish immediately and will say why.

Corrections

A correction is a note at the foot of the article, dated, describing what was wrong and what it now says. The original error stays legible in the note. We do not delete stories to fix them, and we do not change a headline or a number without recording the change.

• Correction: a factual error. Published as a dated note and the text is fixed.
• Clarification: the facts were right but the wording could mislead. Same treatment, labelled differently.
• Update: new information has arrived and the story has moved on. The piece carries an update timestamp.
• Retraction: the central claim failed. The story is replaced by an explanation of what went wrong and stays at the same URL.

Conflicts, gifts and access

Staff disclose to the editor any financial interest, family relationship or prior employment that touches a story, and hand the story to someone else if the interest is material. We pay our own travel and accommodation. We do not accept gifts above token value, paid speaking fees from firms we cover, or research access granted on condition of favourable treatment.