According to Bossip a report says that a 21-year-old who was interning at a London investment bank has died after reportedly working 72 hours in a row.
Via Independent UK reports:
Moritz Erhardt was an exchange student from Germany studying at the University of Michigan and was interning at the Bank of America in London when he died, seven days before he was due to complete his summer internship.
According to reports, the business studies undergraduate suffered from epilepsy and collapsed in the shower at his student accommodation in Bethnal Green, east London, before being pronounced dead at the scene.
One anonymous poster on website the wallstreetoasis.com site said: “He was found dead in the shower by his flatmate. Intern at BAML [Banking of America and Merill Lynch] who went home at 6am three days in a row.”
Many of the comment threads focused on how hard interns were forced to work in banking internships, with many saying students felt they had to stay all night to be offered a job. Another commenter said his time in a banking internship was “the worst three months of his life.”
One former investment banker confirmed that interns could regularly work 14 hours days.
The banker, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Independent: “Interns can regularly clock up to 100 or even 110 hours a week, but people are fully aware that banking is hard work and the company constantly reminds you to manage upwards in order to not overheat. This is the first time I’ve heard of something like this happening and banking is a very close culture.”
Banking interns at BAML are paid around £45,000 pro rata, or £2,700 a month.
One 20-year-old told the Evening Standard in 2011 that “you work whatever hours you’re asked to”.
