A former banking heavyweight has been grilled in the witness box over a series of lewd messages he sent via the company’s instant messaging service prior to his high-profile dismissal.

Etienne Alexiou was sacked from his position as the global head of Australia New Zealand Bank’s (ANZ) balance sheet trading in 2015 before he engaged the bank in what has been a decade-long legal battle.

The bank claims Mr Alexiou was sacked over a series of inappropriate and offensive messages. He alleges he was let go for whistleblowing on trading misconduct.

Mr Alexiou took to a Federal Court witness box for a tense stand-off with ANZ’s lawyer Kate Morgan SC on Monday and Tuesday.

The veteran silk read out a series of Mr Alexiou’s messages to his colleagues and labelled many of them offensive to women

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