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By Belinda Goldsmith
LONDON, Aug 21 (Reuters) - The death of an intern working atthe London offices of Bank of America Merrill Lynch hasprompted calls for city firms to take more responsibility forthe ambitious graduates who push themselves to the limit tosecure jobs at the world's top banks.
Attracted to the glass towers of finance in London, New Yorkand Singapore by the prospect of securing a full-time job andhefty wage, future "masters of the universe" often face 20-hourdays in some of the most adrenaline-soaked offices on earth.
Weekends at work and meals in the office are par for thecourse with anecdotal reports of the "magic roundabout" whereinterns get a taxi home after dawn and leave it waiting whilethey have a quick shower and then return to work.
But serious concerns about interns working long hours andeven through the night were raised on Wednesday after the deathof Moritz Erhardt, 21, who was found dead late last week at hisLondon accommodation towards the end of a seven-week internship.
The German intern allegedly worked for 72 hours withoutsleep in the Bank of America's investment banking division. Thecause of his death was unknown pending post-mortem tests.
A Bank of America spokesman said the bank was waiting forthe facts about Erhardt's death before deciding whether toreview its internship programme.
Some politicians and an intern campaign group condemned theworkload on interns dubbed "slavery in the city" by one Britishnewspaper, calling on the banks to take measures to ensure theirstaff were not worked to exhaustion.
"Exploitation of youth is unacceptable," tweeted EuropeanEmployment Commissioner Laszlo Andor.
Ben Lyons, co-founder of Intern Aware that campaigns forfair, paid internships, criticised the 100-week an hour cultureat investment banks, saying HR professionals, particularly thosein the City, needed to ensure young people were cared for.
But interns doubted it would possible to change the culture,saying they were never explicitly told to work such long hoursbut imposed this on themselves in their desperation for a job.
"People push themselves because they want an offer with thebank and the chance of a great career and great money," said oneformer intern from a major U.S. bank who secured a job after thesummer. "This is a golden path."
GOLDEN WAGES
The pressure to succeed can take its toll on some internswho have about eight weeks over the summer to prove themselvesand dare not leave the office before their superiors.
Working around the clock was seen as part of the job whichcan be brutal for years with young bankers swapping storiesabout trying to get a weekend off a month, working three dayswithout sleep, and negotiating to be freed up for their wedding.
But while some burn out and quit the industry, the financialrewards are a major incentive, with new recruits at investmentbanks starting on a salary of about 50,000 pounds ($80,000)which is about 20 percent higher than other corporate graduates.
"There's the sense of face time and even if you don't haveany urgent work you are required to stay late. The culture feedsitself," said an intern from Merrill Lynch who secured a job butquit after a year with work-related repetitive strain injury.
"It takes you about a year to 18 months to realise that itjust isn't worth it. You need to have a life," said the internwho is now a project manager in the fashion industry.
A former intern at HSBC in London, who no longerworks at the bank or in the industry, said interns got the worstprojects, spending days ploughing through data without argument.
"If you can follow instructions then they will like you andthat often means staying very, very late doing ridiculousthings. It's partly a culture of intern trying to impress," saidthe former intern.
With interns unlikely to rebel against working"all-nighters", Professor Andre Spicer from London's CassBusiness School said the banks themselves needed to imposelimits and question just how productive and healthy long hoursare.
"If large firms hope to be sustainable and attractive toemployees, they need to tackle the extreme hours culture,"Spicer said in a statement.
