Chinese wall
noun
An insurmountable barrier, especially to the passage of information: they should take responsibility for those decisions, not hide behind some fake Chinese wall...
- This article examines the legal aspects of managing conflict of duties in situations where a Bank uses Chinese walls to segregate confidential and material information obtained from clients.
- For the most part, the CEOs we contacted say that in their experience, the Chinese wall remained intact in one respect: confidential information that bankers shared with analysts on upcoming deals was not leaked.
- The risk of leakage must be real, not fanciful or theoretical: the crucial issue is whether the Chinese wall will work to prevent the confidential information being inadvertently disclosed.
Origin
Early 20th century: with allusion to the Great Wall of China.
- Beatrix
- beat someone at their own game
- beat someone back
- beat someone down
- beat someone hollow
- be at someone's service
- beat someone/thing off
- beat someone to it
- beat someone to the punch
- beat someone up
- beat something down
- beat something out
- beat the bejesus out of
- be at the bottom of
- beat the bounds
- beat the bushes
- beat the clock
- beat the count
- beat the drum for
- be at the end of
- beat the pants off
- be at the races (or in the race)
- beat the rap
- beat the system
- be at the top of one's game