Question about Ethics - Duties to Employers collected, connected, business, meetings, standard

draz

I am not sure abuout a hypothetical case connected with loyalty for our former employers, so I ask for your help ;) it’s based on 6th example to standard IV(A), p.96 in CFA curriculum.
Let’s assume that I worked in the company where I was making deals with clients and I spent many hours on negotiations with those clients. I was on many meetings and I have collected dozens of business cards and phone numbers on my mobile. Will it be a violation if I use these numbers to contact them when I’ll be working for another company? contacting former clients through the client lists taken from company is violation, but in this case I didn’t printed or prescribed any list. According to CFAI simple knowledge of the names of clients is not confidentialial information. So if I will go through my contact list on the phone and google their names and find phone numbers will everything be correct? Is the contact list on my phone, which was made during my work, property of the firm? and what if i wil memorize all the names and just delete the list from phone on my last day at work and in the next i will backup that list from my head? there isn’t any noncompete agreement.
Thanks for any advice

OmarAdnan

If you use any sort of list, it’s technically a violation. To not violate the standard, you need to recall every client by memory and then, re-obtain their contact information in some way that is not related to your old company.
But of course, if you do take the list or keep the business cards, no one will ever know, it does not hurt anyone other than your old employer, and I doubt that CFAI will even care.

DoubleDip

i know that it’s extremely low probability that someone will accuse another person of using old business cards;) i imagined and described situation because i just wanted to have clarified where is te border between violation and right conduct.
thanks guys for fast answers

lucasg85

If it is a work phone, no go. Business cards aquired in business meetings with the old firm are a no go. If your out at a bar, a self funded conference, a self paid for charity event after work on personal time and get a card, good to go, but anything on company time is company property, remember whats yours is theirs between 9-5. Now most would agree business cards is going a little far but that is arguable. It all comes down to the members personal morals and ethics.