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.