Who would be a banker these days?

Will Davies worked in investment banking at Societe Generale during his 20s after studying economics at Bristol University. He earned “very good money” in mergers and acquisitions, working 12 hours every day of the week. Now 36, he runs a property maintenance company, aspect.co.uk, in London.

What attracted him to banking? Mr Davies told Channel 4 News that the big investment banks had strong links with universities and were always keen to attract the best economics and maths graduates with slick presentations and the chance to meet young recruits who were on their way up.

“You’ll talk to people who’ve worked there for a year or two, see they’ve progressed quickly and are responsible for vast amounts of money and their prospects are good. It was very enticing joining the best people in your field working in a high-pressure environment.

There were no moral qualms. When I was there, there wasn’t a moment when I wondered whether it was morally correct. Will Davies, former investment banker

Aggressive

“I was a reasonably aggressive, type A individual looking to better himself as quickly as possible and competing against other competitive people.”

Mr Davies said that in banking an annual salary of £50,000 was on offer immediately, whereas other careers could not “give you that level of initial earnings”.

So was money the main motivation? “It was a factor, but not the only factor.” Unlike accountancy and law, there were fewer exams to sit. “In investment banking, you can achieve rewards much more quickly and you don’t need as many qualifications.”

That was why the elite in investment banking were able to earn £1m a year after just three years in the job.

Morals

With Britain mired in recession and austerity the buzzword of our times, a debate is raging about inequality and whether it is right that a banker can earn as much in a year as a nurse in many decades.

But Mr Davies said that when he worked in banking, these sorts of philosophical concerns were far from his mind. “There were no moral qualms. When I was there, there wasn’t a moment when I wondered whether it was morally correct.

“These are people who are driven by results and money and performance. If you take a lot of people who work in a more socially responsible industry and put them into investment banking, then you will make huge losses.”

Lydia Prieg, a 26-year-old former trader at the prestigious investment bank Goldman Sachs, did have moral qualms. These concerns, and boredom, led to her leaving after less than two years to pursue a masters at the LSE before joining the New Economics Foundation think tank.

Ms Prieg said that like Will Davies, she decided to go into investment banking while she was a student – in her case studying physics at Oxford.

“Lots of my friends were relying on the graduate recruitment process, with investment banks and management consultancies.”

For many of them, money was the attraction. “I think it appealed to a lot of my peers. For me it was the prestige of working for an internationally famous organisation and the trading floor was exciting.”

I couldn’t see any point in what I was spending hours on day to day and I was not motivated by making more and more money. Lydia Prieg, former investment banker

But the novelty of working for the bank known as the “vampire squid” did not last long. “When I got there I found out it was boring, doing something over and over again.”

Ms Prieg’s job involved buying and selling interest rate swaps (betting on the future movement of interest rates), convinced that “innovative financial products” had a useful role to play and giving little thought to the world outside the trading floor.

Motivation

“In terms of looking at wider society, when you’re doing your job you specialise in a narrow area and you’re just focussed on that tiny niche area.”

But within months of working 12-hour days she lost her enthusiasm. “I couldn’t see any point in what I was spending hours on day to day and I was not motivated by making more and more money.

“I don’t see the need to earn excessive sums of money, particularly as it didn’t interest me.”

When she told her employers she had had enough, “as I was leaving the industry entirely, they were extremely nice about it”.

The 26-year-old is adamant that leaving Goldman Sachs was the “best decision of my life”. But she believes investment banking still has a vital role.

“There is a role for investment banking in the economy. We must have experts in mergers and acquisitions and markets in secondary trading.”

Chris Roebuck is an economist who has worked in human resources for the investment bank UBS and HSBC. The 56-year-old has also advised the NHS and is now a visiting professor of transformational leadership at Cass Business School in London.

He makes the point that investment bankers do very different jobs, they are not homogenous. “You can look at these people and say people likely to go into mergers and acquisitions and inter-react with chief executives and account directors are not going to be the same people who go into trading.

“It’s client-based rather than price-based. People who go into mergers and acquisitions tend to have intellectual ability and to have been to good universities and got very good degrees.

‘Dodgy’

“The chances of them doing anything dodgy are minimal because if there’s the slightest hint of something dodgy, your career is over.”

He believes that while money attracts, there are other reasons people choose a career in investment banking.

The chances of them doing anything dodgy are minimal because if there’s the slightest hint of something dodgy, your career is over. Chris Roebuck, Cass Business School

“To some degree one reason they may go into it is because of the money. Also the name of a global bank on your CV counts for something. It’s a good career move and you’re going to get a reasonable amount of overseas travel, mostly London, New York, Chicago, Singapore, or maybe China.

Profit

“When you talk to them in detail about their views, the vast majority are sensible, down-to-earth people who generally behave with integrity. The problem comes when the pursuit of profit gets in the way of your moral compass.”

Mr Roebuck said that when young people seek a career, “they will look for something that interests them”. If they realise they will be doing similar work at an investment bank or local authority, “you’d be mad not to go for an investment bank; that’s simple logic”.

While investment bankers could be driven by money, so could those in less obviously lucrative careers.

“There are people who are doctors who go into the NHS who believe in doing good. There are others who view it as a stepping stone to private patients and a lot of money.”