JPMorgan interns will come into the office this summer as lockdowns ease

 JPMorgan expects thousands of summer interns in London and New York to come into the office this summer, as the world's largest investment banks look to get their training programmes back on track after shifting them online during the Covid-19 crisis.

The US bank is planning to bring in sales and trading and investment banking interns into its offices this year, according to people familiar with the matter, even as some rivals keep their training programmes virtual.

Goldman Sachs has also told its summer interns in February that bank bosses expect them to be in office when the programmes kick off in July, Financial News reported.

However, Wells Fargo will stick to the virtual format for summer analysts within its corporate and investment bank, and Morgan Stanley will start its training programme online.

While most investment banks have heralded the success of working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic, as both advisory and trading revenues have surged over the past 12 months, most executives have cited the need to get juniors back into the office for vital training and mentoring.

Summer internships are banks' main entry-level recruitment tool, with thousands of students from top universities brought in each year as a dress rehearsal for securing a full-time position. The places are highly-competitive, with Goldman Sachs receiving 100,000 applications for 3,000 graduate roles last year, and Morgan Stanley getting 34,000 applications for 470 summer internships in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

As well as formal training, students are offered networking opportunities with senior bankers, get to shadow other juniors and have informal interactions with employees, all of which are difficult to replicate virtually.

In a presentation to staff last week, Goldman Sachs chief executive David Solomon said that the bank's intake of summer interns and full-time analysts need to come into the office and be supported by other employees.

“Getting them in to the office is the best way to get them connected to Goldman Sachs,” he said.

JPMorgan chief executive, Jamie Dimon, has also spoken about the need to get junior employees back to the office. “There are a lot of people who have been hired into our companies who have never been into our company,” he told a conference in October. “How do you build a culture and character? How are you going to learn properly?”

The analyst class of 2020 has yet to see the office and investment banks have been pulling out the stops to keep them engaged, as many have considered quitting the industry. JPMorgan has offered its new juniors virtual boxing lessons and 'escape room' games, while Citigroup and Goldman Sachs have both started schemes to allow analysts access to senior investment bankers.

https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/jpmorgan-interns-will-come-into-the-office-this-summer-as-lockdowns-ease-20210316