I've been the technical guy in a meeting where this kind of nonsense was decided...

Me: The customer has asked for security measures to stop unauthorised employees from subverting the system and defrauding them. Your solution uses clear-text passwords, so anyone with a copy of Wireshark could crack it in seconds.

Management: Yeah, but they're only asking for the appearance of security. They don't care about the details.

Me: What will they say if someone cracks our "security" and steals millions of dollars from them?

Management: <shrug>

Me: ???