5 Common Myths About Bankers And The Financial Services Industry

Public opinion of the financial services industry has not always been pristine. Banks often get a bad rap, which has plagued the industry and created a certain amount of mistrust.

The Madoffs of the world have served to further taint the public’s perception of this once highly esteemed industry, and ongoing scandals have only helped fuel the myths about how the banking industry functions. But banking is a central and necessary part of our society, and enduring misconceptions about the banking industry have been disproven over time — namely, five in particular.

Everyone in Banking Is Rich

Bankers do have considerable salaries in comparison with the average household income, but the vast majority of people who work in banking or investment banking are not extraordinarily wealthy, and there are several reasons why. For one, many in the financial services industry have spent exorbitant amounts of money on their education and accrued a ton of student debt. Many bankers are also based in some of the most expensive cities in the world, where the average costs of living are much higher.

Additionally, taking into consideration the long hours bankers often work, their pay per hour is actually much lower than many might expect. The average annual base pay of an investment banking associate at J.P. Morgan is around $126,306, according to Glassdoor. And considering many bankers work 80 or more hours a week, that comes out to around $30 per hour.

Banking Is Like the Wolf of Wall Street

Martin Scorsese's partly satirical account of Jordan Belfort and a male-dominated, drug-addled fraud operation is nothing like how it is in real life. There may have been aspects of that storyline that were true for some firms in the ’80s, but times have well and truly changed.

This is particularly true since the financial crisis, as banks are heavily regulated now and have faced heavy fines for malpractice and lack of control of their employees. Generally that type of behavior is frowned upon, and most banks have gone to great lengths to make the culture more inclusive, diverse and compliant than ever before.

Banking Is Pale, Male and Stale

Nearly every major name in banking has initiatives in place to help maintain a diverse and inclusive environment. According to the 2016 Bloomberg diversity report, many have established strategies that have proven to be successful in promoting diversity, such as return-to-work programs, childcare services, adoption/fertility assistance, flexible work schedules and unconscious bias manager training.

Bankers Only Work in New York or London

Investment banking roles are available in just about every state in the U.S. The best and highest paying roles do generally sit in the larger financial hubs, but talent is now more mobile than it’s ever been.

Additionally, there has been a general trend of banks moving people to remote locations where a different lifestyle is available for employees: Citi has a huge campus in Tampa, Florida; J.P. Morgan has a number of satellite offices in Wilmington, Delaware, and Columbus, Ohio; Goldman Sachs has 2,400 people in Salt Lake City, Utah; and Bank of America and Wells Fargo are technically headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. There are also plenty of regional banks that offer interesting opportunities throughout lesser known financial hubs.

Banking Doesn’t Serve an Important Societal Role

Whether you like it or not, the fact remains that our society is built on our financial system. Unless we’re willing to completely scrap the rule book on how the world functions, modern society needs banks (and bankers) in order to function. Without them, it’s very difficult for modern transactions, acquisitions, mergers, trading and loans to take place.

While there have certainly been unethical practices that have occurred in the banking world, things have gotten much better with the institution of greater regulation and a push for more inclusive and professional work environments. Many people who work in finance are just honest, hardworking and intelligent members of society who want to make a difference in the lives of their families and the world at large — and the world needs good, ethical bankers to make the system work.

Oliver Cooke is the Executive Director at Selby Jennings, which specializes in financial recruiting.