Are banking hours in Asia worse than those in the US?
Heard horror stories at BBs in HK and wonder to what extent are these rumors true. Any insight is appreciated.
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You get lunch break
Which is when you get beaten up by locals
Can confirm
Source: I am said "local"
Ate at my desk
Yes - more than occasional 6ams at certain BBs
When I did my internship at a SG/HK BB I worked 110 hours a week on average, most of my friends across the other BBs worked similar hours (9-3 on weekdays, 12-10 hours on weekends)
That is insane.
Can someone else confirm this? This is insane.
In addition to hierarchical nature (of local cultures) and the culture of facetime etc, another big factor is that business and personal lives mix. A lot. Clients expect to be taken out, to get to know you, for you to know them etc. This takes time. And that's usually not done in office hours.
The trade off is that one doesn't have to be a technically sound banker to do well in Asia. It's much more relationship based.
A fair bit has to do with cultural differences from what I understand at the junior level. Mainly that being a good analyst in the US means being able to "manage up" and push back on requests when it makes sense to do so. This isn't really accepted in Asia, so analysts are at the whim of their VP / MD's ability to efficiently approach workstreams. I also generally think that there has been a greater focus on implementing policies for junior retention in banking in the US, whereas I'm not sure similar policies have been created in Asia.
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