Concern at death of banking associate: "FIG teams are the worst"

efinancialcareers.com:

As we reported yesterday, a financial institutions group (FIG) associate has died at a major US bank in New York City. The cause of his death is unclear. There are unconfirmed suggestions that he worked long hours for weeks prior to his passing. There have also been unconfirmed suggestions on Instagram that he had existing health issues. Colleagues are understood to be devastated, and his family have requested space to grieve and to process his passing.

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Whether the cause of the associate's death was linked to long working hours and — by implication — to a lack of sleep, sources across the banking say life in FIG teams can be particularly harsh.

«When I worked in a FIG team it was the worst experience of my career,» says one technology banker. «This is largely because working for other bankers as your clients sucks.»

Posts on social media suggest that the associate who died had worked 120-hour weeks for multiple weeks running. However, it is not clear whether these claims come from individuals within the bank or not. Some social media posts are thought to come from people without direct knowledge of the situation.

The death of the popular associate has nonetheless prompted outrage among many in the industry, who feel that working hours are still excessive and that banks aren't doing enough to care for junior staff. An academic study of late night cab journeys from banks in 2021 found that the imposition of«protected Saturdays» to give juniors at least one day off each week had simply redistributed working hours to weeknights instead. 

A junior at another bank tells us that FIG teams are notoriously hardworking. «I was easily working 100-hour weeks when I was in FIG,» he