Article About Analysts' Lives

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The perks for an intern who chooses to spend the summer in Hong Kong are impossible to ignore. Over the course of a summer, banking interns make a set amount of money, usually between $10,000 and $12,000 for 10 weeks of work. This might seem like a lot, but it amounts to even more in Asia, especially since some firms put their employees up in posh hotels, gratis. The perks donâ€t stop there—interns working in the Asia-Pacific offices also get their own secretaries.
“I was 21 and my secretary was about 15 years older,” Chan said. “I could ask her to fax stuff for me, or get me coffee, or pens, or even ask her to bring me my bank account statement.”

Even with a secretary, the workload proved intense. In any investment banking internship, the intern will take on the duties of a full-time analyst for the summer. These duties will often keep the intern in the office late into the night and sometimes straight through into the next day. There was a three-week stretch when Chan was only able to get three hours of sleep a night, weekends excluded. Chanâ€s boss told him that people only need four hours to function normally.
Chan remembers his third day on the job as one of the most taxing. Upon arriving at work at 9:00 a.m., Chan was put onto a deal by one of the vice presidents, which meant that he had to compile data for a client meeting that was to take place the following day. He began working on this project immediately and because of its pressing nature, opted to skip lunch and a training session that he was supposed to attend.

Fueled by a breakfast of fruit and toast, Chan worked without pause until nearly 3:00 p.m., when he was approached by another VP. This VP had an even more important and pressing deal in the works and told Chan to stop what he was doing and begin working on the new deal. Along with another intern, Chan worked on this deal all the way from 3 p.m. to 7 a.m. the following morning. He took a one-hour break for dinner. After such a brutal shift, one would expect an employee to be able to score some sack time, maybe four or five hours until he had to get back to work. Not so for Chan. Chan had to go to a client presentation the next morning in mainland China. So at 7 a.m., after he was done compiling the data for the deal he had been working on, he took a company limo back to his hotel. He showered, dried himself off, pounded a Red Bull and went back into the limo. It wasnâ€t even 8 a.m. yet. The limo then picked up his associates and teammates and they headed down to the client meeting for the rest of the day. At the meeting, Chan had to stay alert and take notes. He gulped a lot of coffee.

Of course, it wasnâ€t all work in Hong Kong. On Friday and Saturday nights, with no work the next day, the bankers would cut loose. This meant hitting up one of the three big expatriate bars/clubs in the city. These clubs were usually filled with two groups of people: bankers and “models.” The “models” would get in without paying the cover charge and drink for free while the bankers would have to cough up $1,000 for a table, although sometimes the firm paid for them.
“A firm might book an entire club for a night, for a welcoming or departure party,” Chan said. And, of course, some “models” might just happen to find their way into the party.
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When I asked Owen what was the most prevalent drug among investment bankers, he gave a little laugh. Then, when he realized the seriousness of the question, his smile constricted. “Well, I mean, when youâ€re working 14 hours a day, when youâ€re working 80 hours a week, youâ€re not going to want to chill out with a joint when you go out. Youâ€re going to do some bumps.”
Over the summer, whenever Owen would get out of work before 1:00 a.m. (which happened, according to Owen, not at all frequently enough), he would have his waiting town car—a standard investment banking perk if you work late nights—take him not home but to a bar, where he would meet up with friends from work and school.
“There were people who didnâ€t drink at all and came out just to keep up appearances,” said Owen. “And then there were people who would be downing tons of Macallan and Glenlivet and sneaking off to the bathroom for a bump—or 12.”