Financial Channel

It's not that I am worried about what they hear. But I have worked with my current employer for less than a month and I can't think of anyone else to put down. So do they put it down as a formality, or do they actually do a thorough credit reference?

I don't believe so, unless they have suspicions about you. I think it's just there in case they ever need to make a quick call (e.g. your first transaction bounces).

If you request a high trading limit it may also cause them to call your reference which is understandable. I just got a $500 limit since I'm not transferring more than $500 at any given time so they didn't check my references out.