Speculation over the wellbeing and whereabouts of Cameroon’s 91-year-old President Paul Biya has become a hot topic across Africa this week.
After attending the China-Africa summit in Beijing in early September, it was perhaps no surprise that he gave the UN General Assembly in New York a miss.
But when he stayed away from this week’s summit of French-speaking countries (La Francophonie) at Viller Cotterêts, north of Paris, the rumour mill went into overdrive, as he had not been seen in public for about a month.
Cameroon’s ambassador in France insisted that Biya is “in good health” and in Geneva – his habitual base when away from home.
Other sources suggested this was because he needed to rest under medical supervision after a heavy diplomatic schedule in July and August.
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After all, he is Africa’s oldest head of state and the second longest-serving, narrowly beaten to that record by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema of neighbouring Equatorial Guinea.
Such mundane indications were not enough to still speculative guesswork about Biya in Africa-interested media and political circles.
So finally the government spokesman, René Sadi, issued a formal denial of the rumours, adding that the president would return home “in the next few days”.
And the head of the president’s private office, with him in Geneva, insisted he was “in excellent health”.
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Cameroon occupies a key strategic location, as the gateway to landlocked Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR).
Apart from struggling to fully suppress jihadist violence around Lake Chad, it also wrestles with a complex and often violent crisis in its English-speaking regions.
In leading the response to these challenges, Biya has brought an unusual personal style that often eschews the front of the stage, without any apparent personal need to engage in diplomatic presenteeism or performative summitry.
He is a habitual non-attendee at many gatherings of African leaders.
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Even back home, with his measured speech and cautious tone, Biya has for many years spaced his personal interventions, largely delegating the day-to-day running of the government, and handling of technical dossiers, to a succession of prime ministers.
Unexplained absences from public view have been nothing out of the ordinary for this most enigmatic of presidents.
Rumours that he has died do surface from time to time, largely because of these unannounced disappearances from the scene.
But this low-key style belies the determination with which he contrived his arrival in power in 1982, elbowing aside his patron and predecessor Ahmadou Ahidjo, promising liberalising change before entrenching a hold on the presidency that no subsequent challenger or campaign of protest has managed to shift.
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As a wave of multi-party democratising change swept across much of Africa at the beginning of the 1990s, Biya was one of several incumbent leaders to shrewdly adapt, allowing sufficient reform to take the heat out of mass protest while nevertheless firmly keeping control.
Since one narrow election victory back in 1992, he has shrugged off subsequent political challenges, helped perhaps by manipulation of the polls and certainly by the divisions among often tactically inept opponents.
Now, with Biya’s current seven-year term drawing to an end in November 2025, supporters have even been pressing the 91-year-old to stand again.
Critics feel that it is long past time for Cameroon’s national leadership to pass to a younger generation who could tackle national problems and explore opportunities for development and progress with more speed and dynamism.
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In 2016 teachers and lawyers in the two mainly English-speaking regions, South-West and North-West, protested over the failure to properly resource English language rights and public services.
If Biya had responded more rapidly and with a more assertively generous and loudly touted reform package, perhaps he could have assuaged discontent early on – and thus averted the eventual slide into violent confrontation between the security forces and armed militants demanding outright secession.
Biya did later bring forward reforms – to meet the grievances of the English-speaking regions and, nationwide, to decentralise power to regional councils.
But sometimes citizens have faced long waits before the regime addresses their concerns – decentralised structures were not set up until many years after the original framework legislation had been passed.
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Some Cameroonians are, however, comfortable with Biya’s restrained approach to leadership and his readiness to leave successive prime ministers to handle routine decisions.
They see his role as more symbolic and distant, akin almost to a constitutional monarch.
Certainly, this representational role is a dimension of the presidency with which he has seemed at ease.
On 15 August, for example, he was at Boulouris, on the Côte d’Azur in France, where he gave a detailed 12-minute address at the commemoration of the 1944 Allied landings to liberate southern France from the Nazis – an operation in which many troops from the French African territories took part.
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And in fact, despite frequent absences from the Cameroonian capital Yaoundé – usually retreating either to his home village in the forested south or to his preferred international base, Geneva’s Intercontinental Hotel – Biya has continued to take the key sensitive political and strategic decisions.
The main gatekeeper to the heart of power at the Étoudi presidential palace is the Secretary General of the Presidency, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh.
A power system where Biya, as the head of state, keeps his cards so close to his chest inevitably generates gossip about his own intentions for the 2025 election and about potential successors.
But some of the senior regime figures most frequently tipped, such as Laurent Esso and René Sadi, are by now themselves far from youthful.
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Support groups have also appeared to promote a passing of the torch to the president’s elder son Franck Biya, a businessman – although Franck himself has never shown any interest in politics or given any hint of such ambitions.
But in today’s Africa, where disenchantment with the political establishment runs deep, particularly among young urban populations, establishment attempts to secure the continuation of power can carry risks.
In neighbouring Gabon, President Ali Bongo was deposed by the army last year after the regime manipulated the 2023 election to deliver him a further seven-year term despite his fragile state of health.
And when Senegal’s President Macky Sall lined up his Prime Minister Amadou Ba as his successor, he was decisively rebuffed by the voters who opted instead for the young reformist opponent Bassirou Diomaye Faye.
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Biya and his inner circle may feel confident of avoiding such scenarios. But that will require a shrewd reading of popular sentiment, especially among youth and the middle-class in big cities such as Yaoundé and Douala.
Paul Melly is a consulting fellow with the Africa Programme at Chatham House in London.
President William Lai has pledged to uphold Taiwan’s self-governing status in his most high-profile public address since taking office earlier this year.
In a thinly-veiled reference to China’s claim over the island, Lai said he would “uphold the commitment to resist annexation or encroachment upon our sovereignty.”
Lai was speaking to a crowd in Taipei to commemorate Taiwan’s National Day, only nine days after Communist China celebrated its 75th anniversary.
At the same time, Lai promised to maintain “the status quo of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait” and pledged to cooperate with Beijing on issues such as climate change, combating infectious diseases and maintaining regional security.
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“The Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinates to each other,” he said, in a reference to the governments of Taipei and Beijing respectively.
“On this land, democracy and freedom are thriving. The People’s Republic of China has no right to represent Taiwan,” he added.
Lai previously told visitors there would be “no surprises” in his national day address, in a bid to reassure them that he would not do anything further to agitate Beijing.
The disclaimer followed several speeches by President Lai over the past few months that some viewed as being provocative.
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“The speech was much softer and less snarky than his recent speeches,” Lev Nachman, a political scientist at the National Taiwan University, told the BBC in reference to Thursday’s address. “It gives China far less ammunition to use against him.”
“Nevertheless,” he added, “Beijing will still find many reasons to hate this speech.”
Mr Nachman said he expected a strong reaction from Beijing in the form of more military exercises in the next few days.
Last week, Lai said it was “absolutely impossible” for China to be the “motherland” of Taiwan because the island’s government was founded in 1911, decades before the current Communist regime of mainland China was founded in 1949.
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“On the contrary, the Republic of China may actually be the motherland of citizens of the People’s Republic of China who are over 75 years old,” Lai said at a concert to mark Taiwan’s National Day on Saturday.
Taiwan maintains the constitution of the Republic of China, which was founded on the Chinese mainland. When it lost a long civil war with the Communists in 1949, the Republic of China government fled to Taiwan and has been based there ever since.
Last month, Lai also questioned China’s assertion that its claim over the self-ruled island was based on territorial integrity. If that were the case, he suggested, Beijing would also be pushing to reclaim other so-called historic lands that once belonged to the Chinese empire.
“If China wants to annex Taiwan… it’s not for the sake of territorial integrity,” Lai said, in an interview to mark his first 100 days in office.
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“If it is really for the sake of territorial integrity, why doesn’t China take back Russia?”
Lai referenced the 1858 Treaty of Aigun, which saw China concede large swathes of Manchuria to Russia. The concession occurred during what China refers to as the “century of humiliation,” when Western powers and Japan exploited the weakened Qing Dynasty.
On Wednesday, China’s government responded by saying President Lai was escalating tensions with “sinister intentions”.
“Lai Ching-te’s Taiwan independence fallacy is just old wine in a new bottle, and again exposes his obstinate stance on Taiwan independence and his sinister intentions of escalating hostility and confrontation,” said the statement from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office.
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After his election in January, Lai succeeded Taiwan’s previous president Tsai Ing-wen, who also came from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Lai’s public comments until now are regarded by many political observers as going further than anything said by his predecessor, who was much more cautious in her public speeches.
In spite of his administration’s more confrontational tone, however, Lai has stressed his position of maintaining the “status quo” between Taiwan and China.
He insists Taiwan has no need to declare independence because it is already an independent sovereign nation that has never been controlled by the People’s Republic of China.
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Lai also devoted a considerable amount of Thursday’s speech to domestic issues such as energy, climate change and housing.
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Brookfield has outbid Segro in the race to acquire Tritax EuroBox, as the FTSE 250 warehouse owner’s board recommended the Canadian private capital group’s latest all-cash offer.
The board said Brookfield’s offer, which values Tritax EuroBox shares at £557mn, represented an “attractive premium for . . . shareholders over the terms of the Segro offer”. The company had recommended Segro’s all-share offer to shareholders in September.
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The duel between Brookfield and Segro — the UK’s largest listed landlord — comes as commercial property dealmaking is heating up after a two-year lull, particularly for warehouse properties.
Strong demand from the ecommerce industry since the pandemic has placed logistics properties as one of the most attractive segments of the commercial real estate sector.
Warehouse prices have fallen less than other property types since 2022 and are also recovering faster. Asset values in the industrial sector, which includes logistics, gained almost 1 per cent in the year to June, according to a Green Street index — a stronger result than other property types.
Elsewhere in Europe, Blackstone last month acquired another large warehouse portfolio, in a €1bn transaction, adding to the US investment group’s bet on the logistics sector. In one of the region’s largest property deals this year, it bought 80 per cent of the European logistics portfolio of Johannesburg-listed landlord Burstone.
The deals come as activity in the wider commercial real estate market picks up following a two-year slump that hit asset prices and depressed transaction levels. European commercial real estate dealmaking, which fell to a 13-year low at the start of the year, is showing signs of revival.
More investors are searching for property vehicles trading at lower prices and wider discounts. Segro raised £900mn of fresh equity earlier this year to target buying opportunities. Brookfield, meanwhile, put London’s CityPoint skyscraper up for sale in September.
A MAJOR banking outage has left thousands of customers unable to access their accounts.
TSB customers are reporting difficulties logging into both the mobile banking app and Internet banking services this morning.
Those needing to pay their bills or check that their salary has been paid into their bank account have been unable to do so since 7am.
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According to DownDetector, over 2,035 users have encountered issues with the bank’s online services, preventing them from accessing their accounts or sending payments.
More than 60% of the reported problems pertain to difficulties with mobile banking, while 29% of users are experiencing trouble accessing Internet banking.
Frustrated TSB customers have taken to social media to express their concerns.
One person posted on X (formerly Twitter): “The mobile banking app is down again.
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“I cannot get access to my accounts, and now it’s telling me I have no accounts with you.”
Another customer who can’t login to his mobile app said: “Not the ideal time for it to go down as I need to transfer money over ASAP to make a payment.”
Others have complained that they haven’t been able to check if their salary has dropped into their account.
“Well done, TSB. On my payday of all days when I need to pay all my bills, I can’t,” said one customer.
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The outage seems to be impacting the TSB app and internet banking services.
Switch bank accounts for free perks
Another frustrated customer said: “Why is the app not showing any accounts? And the website not loading?”
Responding to customer complaints, a TSB customer service operator said: “Hi. We’re aware some customers are experiencing issues with our online services.
“We’re sorry for the inconvenience, and we’re working to resolve this as soon as possible.”
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A TSB spokesperson told The Sun: “We’re sorry that some of our customers are having issues accessing our services this morning.
“Our teams are working to fix this as quickly as possible.”
How can I check if my bank is down?
THERE are a few different ways to find out if your bank is experiencing an outage.
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Senior consumer reporter Olivia Marshall explains how you can check.
If you’re trying to send money to someone, or you just want to check if you have enough cash for a coffee, finding your online banking is down can be a real pain.
Most banks have a dedicated news page on their website to show service problems, including internet banking, mobile apps, ATMs, debit cards and credit cards.
You can also check on any future work they have planned and what it might mean for you.
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Plus, you can check websites such as Down Detector, which will tell you whether other people are experiencing problems with a particular company online.
Can I claim compensation for the outage?
Banks don’t have to pay out compensation to customers if there has been a drop in service, unlike how telecoms companies have to.
But if you have incurred costs as a result of service issues, it’s likely you could get your money back.
For example, if a bill payment didn’t go through as a result of an outage and you’ve been charged a fee for missing it, you should be able to claim that money back.
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If your credit rating has been affected by a service outage, because you got a late payment fee after being unable to make a transaction, for example, you should also keep a record of this.
If you spoke to anyone to try and resolve the problem, make a note of their name and when you spoke to them, as well as roughly what you discussed and what they advised you to do.
You can find out more details about how to complain on the bank’s website.
It is worth gathering evidence of your problems so you can make a formal complaint to the bank directly.
It is an independent body that will consider the evidence you present and make a fair decision about the action a bank should take.
The FOS can usually get involved 15 days after you’ve raised concerns with the bank.
In the case of an IT system outage at a bank, the FOS says any compensation depends on your circumstances and whether you lost out as a result.
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If it thinks you did, it has the power to tell the bank to reimburse any fees, charges, or fines you were hit with, for example, if you were unable to make a payment on a credit card bill or to your mortgage provider.
It could also tell a bank to pay you for any money you didn’t receive, such as interest, if you weren’t able to pay money in.
If your credit score was affected, it may tell the bank to correct your credit file.
The FOS might also tell the bank to reimburse you for any extra costs you had to make, such as phone calls or trips to your local branch, as well as a payment for any inconvenience it caused.
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Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk.
SKYSCANNER has revealed some of the top trending holiday destinations for 2025 – and five of them are in Europe.
The global travel site has analysed which destinations have seen a boom in searches.
The Travel Trends report is based on searches between January and June in 2024, compared to the same time in 2024.
Coming out on top was Reggio Calabria in Italy, with 541 per cent increase in searches.
Both easyJet and Ryanair have launched flights from the UK to Lamezia Terme, the airport in Calabria.
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The seaside region is a cheaper alternative to the pricey Amalfi Coast.
Read more on holiday hotspots
Coming in second was Tartu in Estonia, with a 294 per cent increase in searches.
The overlooked city has been named the European Capital of Culture for 2024.
Spain‘s Córdoba also made the list, a city Brits may not think to visit, but has seen an increase on searches by 133 per cent.
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In the southern region of Andalusia, it was once one of Europe‘s largest cities, and has a lot of African influences.
It’s main attractions include the huge Mezquita mosque and the Renaissance Viana Palace.
It’s not the easiest to get to you – Brits have to fly to Seville then take a train taking just under an hour – but the city recently recorded record overnight stays from tourists.
Rarely-visited European country billed new holiday destination for 2025
Other European destinations to make the trending list include Tromsø in Norway, with an increase of 85 per cent.
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Most head to Tromsø for the Northern Lights, and easyJet, British Airways and Norwegian have new flights.
And Germany‘s Stuttgart made the top ten, with a 70 per cent increase in searches.
Naomi Hahn, VP of Strategy at Skyscanner comments: “Skyscanner’s Travel Trends report reveals that 2025 will be the year of collective travel experiences.
“Now, more than ever, travellers are increasingly seeking travel experiences that foster community and collective discovery.
“The cost of living, though, remains top of mind and our money-saving tools continue to rise in popularity.
“Our ‘Everywhere’ search, showing prices from the lowest to highest from airports to global destinations, is still one of the top search destinations for travellers globally this year.”
The top 10 includes other long-haul destinations too.
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Siem Reap in Cambodia, America’s Baltimore and Portsmouth in Dominica are trending.
The list also included Panglao Bohol in the Philippines and Thiruvananthapuram in India.
Skyscanner’s top trending destinations for UK travellers
Skyscanner have revealed the destinations with the biggest search increase
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Reggio Calabria, Italy +541%
Tartu, Estonia +294%
Siem Reap, Cambodia +241%
Baltimore, USA +217%
Portsmouth, Dominica +186%
Córdoba, Spain +C%
Tromsø, Norway +85%
Panglao Bohol, Philippines +77%
Stuttgart, Germany +70%
Thiruvananthapuram, India +66%
Brittany in France has also been named a top trending holiday destination for 2025 by American Express.
And Brits can reach it by ferry, with routes from Plymouth and Poole.
A bid by Netflix to fit a plaque marking hit TV series One Day at a historic Edinburgh landmark has been condemned by a heritage watchdog.
The streaming service wants a red plaque with a quote from the show erected in The Vennel, where its lead characters have a key scene.
It has applied to City of Edinburgh Council for planning permission as the sign would be secured to the wall of a listed building, built in 1910.
But Cockburn Association director Terry Levinthal called for planners to refuse permission, arguing it was a “simple exercise in product marketing”.
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One Day, based on the book by David Nicholls, follows the lives of Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew on St Swinthin’s Day – 15 July – every year.
They meet at their Edinburgh University graduation ball in 1988 and have a failed one-night stand.
The series explores the couple’s relationship as they grow up, move apart and together, and experience joy and heartbreak.
One memorable scene in Edinburgh was filmed in The Vennel, a historic staircase that runs from The Grassmarket along the boundary of George Heriot’s School.
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At the top of the steps is a famous view of Edinburgh Castle.
The sign commemorating One Day is proposed for the bottom of the stairs and on the opposite side to the 16th Century Flodden Wall – which once marked the perimeter of Edinburgh.
The quote on the sign reads: “It’s one of the great cosmic mysteries. How someone can go from being a total stranger to the most important person in your life.”
Cockburn Association director Terry Levinthal told BBC Scotland News he felt strongly about the issue.
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He said: “Edinburgh is a very popular city for filmmakers world-wide.
“If every production or every connection with a novel or film or TV series did the same, one wouldn’t be able to see parts of the city due to the proliferation of plaques.
“Is Netflix’s One Day a hugely important cinematic masterpiece? No. Are the characters Emma and Dex that important for such commemoration? Again, the simple answer is no.
“Is this a simple exercise in product marketing? Yes.”
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He said the Netflix production “really had nothing to do with Edinburgh” and most existing plaques in the city either related to key historic figures who had an important impact or role to play in the city, or to particular events or places.
He said it opened up the wider discussion about film tourism in the city.
“People will travel long distances to stand in the spot of their favourite film characters and the causation impacts of that can be considerable,” Mr Levinthal said.
He pointed to the impact of tourism on the town of Fujikawaguchiko, Japan, where a 2.5m (8ft) black mesh net was installed to block the view of Mount Fuji.
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The screen was intended to deter tourists who were littering, parking poorly, and behaving antisocially to take photos for social media.
The screen was effective in reducing congestion in the area.
However, tourists quickly found ways to get around the barrier by poking small holes in the screen that were the right size for a camera lens. The barrier was eventually taken down after successfully deterring tourists.
“So little insignificant things all totalled up together can actually have major impacts,” Mr Levinthal said.
If you have to ask whether long hours are really necessary in investment banking, then it is probably not the career for you.
The high stress, high reward business of dealmaking and being on call for clients of top Wall Street banks is famously gruelling. It is not uncommon for entry-level bankers to rack up more than 100 hours a week.
But some employers are taking a fresh look at whether they could and should be doing more to support their junior staff, particularly by trying to cap weekly hours.
“There’s a profound difference between 80, 100 and 120 hours,” said one former junior investment banker. “No one has a problem working 80 hours a week, 90 even. [But] 100, you’re tired, 120 is something you want to have to do [no more than] once a month or two.”
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Bank of America recently introduced a system for junior bankers to log their hours daily — rather than weekly — to make it harder to under-report their workload. Now, if a junior banker exceeds 80 hours in a week, they will be monitored by HR. Bankers also have a “protected day” every weekend.
JPMorgan Chase, the world’s largest investment bank, has also capped junior bankers’ working week at 80 hours, although the limit does not apply when they are working on live deals. It appointed a senior executive to oversee its junior banker programme and focus on their wellbeing.
This introspection was triggered by the sudden death this year of Leo Lukenas III, a 35-year-old junior banker at BofA who had previously been a Green Beret in the US army. His death was ruled to have been caused by a blood clot but it ignited fresh concerns about the long hours and working conditions for young bankers.
Yet questions remain as to whether the caps will be sufficient to address a culture of long hours forged over decades, which some stalwarts see as a rite of passage. Some industry figures have played down the desire for change among some workers.
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Peter Orszag, head of Wall Street bank Lazard, last month told Bloomberg that young bankers were happy to put in long hours if they were involved in important and interesting work and if that was balanced with flexible working arrangements.
Limits on junior bankers’ hours will compress the amount of time they have to do their work, potentially increasing the need for more hiring in an industry where job cuts ebb and flow with the amount of deal activity.
“If you need to have more people to manage the 80-hour circuit breaker, are those the people who get cut? I’m a little bit afraid of that,” said one junior banker at a large Wall Street bank.
Ultimately those coming into the industry recognise it is fiercely competitive — and well paid: investment banking offers one of the most lucrative paths for new graduates, with starting salaries of more than $100,000 plus significant year-end bonuses.
“I’ve been trying to disabuse about a third of my students from going into it because they don’t have the drive,” said David Stowell, who worked in investment banking for about two decades and now teaches at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
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“It’s not for everybody. But for the right kind of people, it’s a remarkable 30-year career or at least a remarkable foundation.”
Concerns about long hours and junior workers’ wellbeing are not confined to banking. The legal industry has been dealing with similar issues as pay for young lawyers has dramatically increased and demanding annual targets of 2,000 billable hours at some firms have been criticised.
If the clients are accosting and difficult to deal with and set unreasonable deadlines, that cascades through the bankers
The issue came to the fore last year after a partner who was working 18-hour days on a deal at UK-founded law firm Pinsent Masons was killed by a train after falling on to a track amid an acute mental health crisis. Pinsent Masons says it has been trialling a tool that alerts the firm to consistently high working hours. It has also been offering “summer Fridays” — a compressed working week that allows employees to take Friday afternoons off during their country’s summer as long as their obligations are met.
Other law firms have nominated people to monitor for red flags such as late-night emails or a lack of holiday.
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Similarly, this is not the first time the banking industry has considered workloads. More than a decade ago, there were calls for an overhaul of banking culture following the death of an intern at BofA in London.
During the pandemic, a cluster of first-year investment banking analysts at Goldman sent the bank’s management a presentation documenting their 95-hour workweeks. This triggered Goldman to recommit to a “Saturday rule” forbidding junior bankers from working from 9pm on Friday until Sunday morning, a move many other banks have since followed.
But complaints about arduous hours can butt up against the structural reality of investment banking, a business where millions of dollars in fees are on the line in any given pitch. Every deal comes with a client expecting top-tier service.
“Clients pay the bills,” said Stowell. “If the clients are accosting and difficult to deal with and set unreasonable deadlines, that cascades through the bankers.”
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There is also some scepticism over how much of a personal benefit the new rules provide. Several bankers said they understood the mandate of having “at least” one day off a week to mean they were expected to work the other six, for example.
Many industry veterans do say working conditions have improved. Wall Street offices have also become much more tolerant of women and minorities.
The only thing that saves you is capable managing directors who know what they want and lay out what you want. And they are hard to come by
But some senior bankers also feel the complaints from younger peers are overstated and speak to a sensitivity of a new generation that is not as battle hardened as their own.
The issue often comes down to the quality of work junior bankers are given. As Orszag noted, many are open to long hours if they feel they are doing intellectually stimulating work and dealing with clients, rather than, for example, drafting pitch documents.
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“An example that used to drive me nuts was when you see you’re on version number 35 of a PowerPoint presentation,” said David Erickson, adjunct professor in finance at Columbia Business School, who worked at Barclays and Lehman Brothers. “You’ve had teams of juniors [staying late], cycling through all of this material and revisions. And the senior people that are actually going to be at the meeting haven’t even looked at the document.”
Another issue is that some senior bankers do not view junior employees’ time as a cost to the bank, said Alex Edmans, a finance professor at London Business School, who started his career at Morgan Stanley.
“If analysts were to count the hours they’re doing on a single project, and there’s a charge to the department, then that will . . . make people think twice about asking analysts to do work for unnecessary reasons,” he explained.
Senior bankers talk about the need to work smarter, not harder, and say managers need to anticipate work where possible so junior bankers are not landed with impossible deadlines.
“I really do think it’s structural to the industry,” said one senior investment banker at a Wall Street firm. “The only thing that saves you is really capable [managing directors] who know what they want and lay out what you want. And those MDs are hard to come by.”
There has been talk that new technology, particularly artificial intelligence, could solve the problem by taking on lower-level work. But sceptics warn AI might just mean fewer junior investment bankers who still have to work as hard.
“There’s always been technological development to empower investment bankers to do things more efficiently,” said Edmans. “But they’ve just then been asked to do more things.”
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