While investment banking is among the most sought-after and prestigious roles that young graduates fancy, the industry is also notorious for its insane working hours which can top 100 hours a week in many cases. After a Wall Street Journal report highlighted how some junior bankers at Bank of America worked overtime without actually logging in these hours officially, America’s second-biggest bank has gotten into action and asked junior bankers to report managers who pressure them to misreport working hours. It is not a one-off case though and such instances frequently get reported across the investment banking industry.

For context, earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported on how junior bankers at Bank of America were working over 100 hours a week – which goes against the bank’s stated policy.

The bankers were told by their managers to not report their long working hours which helped them escape the scrutiny and bypass the bank’s policies. Meanwhile, Bank of America has taken cognizance of the report and has asked junior bankers to report to either the human resources department or their superiors if they were being cajoled to incorrectly record their working hours.

In its statement, Bank of America said that it has a clear set of policies surrounding employee working hours and expects all managers to diligently follow them.

The spokesperson added, “When we’ve become aware they aren’t being followed disciplinary action has been taken.”

Bank of America Reviewed Its Policy After An Intern Died By Suicide

Notably, Bank of America overhauled its working culture in 2013 after an intern in London died of epilepsy after working through nights for multiple days.

More recently, in May this year, a Bank of America associate, Leo Lukenas, died of “acute coronary artery thrombus” just days after the finished work on a $2 billion deal. While the death was attributed to “natural causes” many allege that Lukenas – a former Green Beret in the US Army– was overworked.

Notably, Douglas Walters, a managing partner at headhunter GrayFox Recruitment, told Reuters that Lukenas complained of long working hours at Bank of America and was looking for a change. Walters recalled, “He (Lukenas) made a comment saying like, ‘hey, I’ll trade hours of sleep for a 10% (pay) cut.’”

Previous Reports of Investment Bankers Working Long Hours

To be sure, these are not the only instances of junior investment bankers working long hours – nor is Bank of America any exception. In 2021, after reports of employees working over 100 hours per week spread, Goldman Sachs was forced to strengthen its so-called ‘Saturday rule’ under which employees could not work between 9 p.m. Friday to 9 a.m. Sunday, unless in some circumstances.

Notably, the question of junior associates in the investment banking team working long hours also came up during JPMorgan Chase’s annual meeting earlier this year. Jennifer Piepszak, co-head of commercial and investment banking, said that the bank is “aware of those stories and they’re tragic and incredibly sad.”

She added, “Whatever it takes to make sure that we are caring about the health and well-being (of employees), that’s what we’re going to do and that has to happen bottoms up.” However, as the Bank of America incident shows, while banks have quite rosy policies on paper, in practice, things can be vastly different.

Junior Investment Bankers Frequently Work for Over 100 Hours

Meanwhile, the examples quoted above are hardly an exhaustive list and social media platforms are full of stories of junior investment bankers having to work for over 100 hours every week.

Overheard on Wall Street did a survey in May that found junior bankers are working an average of about 80 hours a week and sleeping for only five hours a night. Some of the survey participants even worked for 140 hours a week which left just four hours a day for sleep and other daily necessities. The participants rated their mental health as 2 on an average on a scale of 1 to 5 which shows how the long working hours are taking a toll on mental and physical health.

In a related incident, earlier this year, Citigroup managing director Edward Ruff shouted at junior bankers who joined the diversity program. The bank put him on leave after that incident, and Ruff subsequently quit the company.

However, allegedly the working conditions for junior investment bankers haven’t changed much at Citi despite that incident. Quoting a Citi insider, eFinancialCareers reported “Officially, you’re supposed to go to your staffer and to obtain an acknowledgment from an MD before you can work on a Saturday, but in reality, this doesn’t happen.”

The source added, “It’s become normal to get work on Friday that you’re told is really urgent, or even better than you’re given a lot of things on Friday and are told that they’re needed for Sunday and that you can have Saturday off as long as they’re done.” As expected, Citi did not respond to that report.

Divergence Tale of Bank Policies and Actions

While banks have policies against employees working for long hours, they don’t seem to be following their own rule book. In another such incident where a leading US bank’s actions seem to be diametrically opposite to its stated policy, Wells Fargo allegedly conducted fake interviews for women and diverse candidates even though it did not intend to hire them for the positions.

A San Francisco District Judge recently ordered Wells Fargo to face a lawsuit over allegations by shareholders that it defrauded them with its diversity claims by conducting sham interviews.

The financial services industry is also notorious for the demanding sales targets which often pushes employees into misselling and forgery. The most infamous case surfaced in 2016 where several Wells Fargo employees opened fake accounts for customers as they were under pressure to meet sales targets.

The bank settled that case in 2020, paying a whopping $3 billion fine, while the damage to its brand was perhaps even more (and irreversible) as the case would continue to haunt its reputation for quite some time.

Investment Banking Is Still a Lucrative Career

Working in investment banking has historically been a major goal for finance students given the promise of massive wealth and reputation it brings.

The sector continues to pay well starting salaries can be as high as $200,000 annually. Moreover, successful investment bankers end up making incredible wealth. However, the journey is far from easy as these widespread reports of junior bankers working long hours illustrate.

As Hamilton Lin, co-founder of Wall Street Training & Advisory, put it, “Going into banking, you are making the conscious decision of giving up your lifestyle.” Lin added, “You are selling your soul to the devil, but it’s a fair trade.”

As for junior investment bankers at Bank of America being asked to misreport their working hours, while the bank might act against some individuals at best, it might not help address the industry-wide practice. While it might not be explicitly approved by the C-suite, the relentless focus on cost cuts which at times leads to lower than optimal headcount, and unrealistic targets set the stage for long working hours for junior investment bankers.

To address the issue, the top leadership of leading investment banks might need to dig their heels. Unless we see a sense of urgency at the level of top management, it could unfortunately be “business as usual” for junior investment bankers.