Guide
Investment banking hours: how much bankers really work
Updated November 1, 2026
Investment banking analysts typically work about 70 to 100 hours a week. Mergers & Inquisitions puts most analysts at 70 to 80 or more, and a recruiter survey reported by Business Insider found bulge-bracket juniors averaged 81 hours a week in 2025. Hours fall to roughly 50 to 60 a week at the VP and MD levels.
How many hours do investment bankers work at each level?
Juniors work the longest hours, and the hours ease as you move up. Analysts and associates do most of the modeling and slide work, so they carry most of the late nights. Senior bankers spend more time with clients and less time building materials.
| Level | Typical hours per week | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Analyst | 70–80 or more; 100+ in a busy week | Mergers & Inquisitions |
| Analysts and associates | 80–100 or more is common | Corporate Finance Institute |
| Junior bankers at bulge-bracket banks | 81 on average in 2025, the same level as in 2022 (Odyssey Search Partners data) | Business Insider, 2026 |
| Associate to VP to MD | Falls to about 50–60 as you move up | Mergers & Inquisitions |
In concrete terms, Mergers & Inquisitions describes 70 to 80 hours as roughly 9 am to midnight on weekdays plus some weekend work, and 50 to 60 hours as roughly 9 am to 7 pm plus some weekend work and travel. It also notes that not every office hour is active work; a lot of it is waiting for comments (Mergers & Inquisitions).
Do hours differ by group or by bank?
Yes, but deal flow matters more than the group's name. A group with several live deals works longer than one that is mostly pitching, whatever its industry or product.
The sources point to a few patterns:
- Busy groups in hot markets. The 2021 Goldman Sachs survey came out of the technology, media and telecom team, which CNBC said was at the center of that year's SPAC-driven IPO boom (CNBC, March 2021).
- Some boutiques. Mergers & Inquisitions says some boutique banks offer analysts 50 to 60 hours a week by cutting pointless work, though they may offer less room to advance (Mergers & Inquisitions).
- Bank size. Business Insider's 81-hour average is for bulge-bracket juniors; it doesn't give a figure for smaller banks (Business Insider).
No source we found publishes reliable hours by group, so we don't rank groups here. For what each group does, see investment banking groups explained.
How do hours change between live deals and quiet periods?
Live deals drive the worst weeks. When a transaction is being negotiated, client deadlines come first, and most bank hour policies carve out exceptions for live deals.
- Live deals. A recruiter told Business Insider that client demand comes before everything else, and that hours overrides pile up when there are many live deals (Business Insider). JPMorgan's 80-hour guideline itself allows exceptions for live deals (CNBC, September 2024).
- Uneven workflow. Mergers & Inquisitions says an M&A deal front-loads work on the model, the CIM and the management presentation, then turns unpredictable as buyers come and go (Mergers & Inquisitions).
- Quiet periods. Slow markets don't mean short weeks. Mergers & Inquisitions says banks pitched more after the 2008 crisis and cut headcount when deal activity fell after the 2020–2022 boom, so hours stayed long (Mergers & Inquisitions).
- 2026 so far. Business Insider reported M&A volume above $1.2 trillion in the first quarter of 2026, citing LSEG data, and said that could push hours up (Business Insider).
What have banks done to limit junior banker hours?
Most large banks now use protected weekend windows and hour tracking, and JPMorgan uses an 80-hour weekly guideline. None of these is a hard cap; each has exceptions, usually for live deals. These are the policies reported in the press:
| Bank | Reported policy | Reported by |
|---|---|---|
| Goldman Sachs | “Saturday rule”: juniors aren't expected in the office from 9 pm Friday to 9 am Sunday. After the 2021 survey, CEO David Solomon said the bank would strengthen enforcement of the rule and speed up junior hiring. | Business Insider, 2026; CNBC, March 22, 2021 |
| JPMorgan | From August 2024, managers told teams juniors should typically work no more than 80 hours a week, with exceptions for live deals. Juniors get one full protected weekend every three months, protected holiday long weekends, and a no-work window from 6 pm Friday to noon Saturday. In March 2026 it piloted a tool that estimates hours from digital activity. | CNBC, September 18, 2024; Business Insider, 2026 |
| Bank of America | Introduced a tool in 2024 to track juniors' weekly hours and flag anyone above 80. A year later it gave its chief resource officer roles, which oversee junior workloads, to permanent senior bankers. | Business Insider, 2026 |
| Wells Fargo | Team leads review analysts' and associates' hours weekly and try to reassign work in busy periods. Juniors are expected to step away from Friday evening to midday Saturday; exceptions need approval. | Business Insider, 2026 |
| Morgan Stanley | Monitors excess workflow, according to a source familiar with its policies. | Business Insider, 2026 |
Protected weekends are older than these policies. CNBC reported that the industry began adopting them after a Bank of America intern in London died in 2013 (CNBC, March 2021). At a September 2024 conference, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said senior bankers whose juniors routinely broke the policy would see it reflected in their bonus (CNBC).
What did the 2021 Goldman Sachs analyst survey find?
It described 100-hour weeks and burnout among first-year analysts during the 2021 deal boom. The sample was small: CNBC reported it was a February 2021 survey of 13 first-year analysts, put together by the analysts themselves (CNBC, March 18, 2021).
Respondents called conditions “inhumane” and said working 110 hours a week often left about four hours a day for sleep and self-care. They also cited unrealistic deadlines. A Goldman spokeswoman told CNBC the bank was listening and taking steps; people familiar with the matter said it was boosting junior hiring and moving staff to busier teams (CNBC).
What does a typical day look like for an analyst?
A typical analyst day runs from about 9 am to 11 pm, split between deal documents, calls and pitch work. The schedule below is one analyst's day as published by Piper Sandler on its careers page. It is typical, not a rule; days on a live deal often run later.
| Time | What the analyst does |
|---|---|
| 8:45 am | Arrives, answers urgent emails, scans deal news for the team |
| 10:00 am | Drafts a CIM for a sell-side M&A deal: pulls company materials, works with the CFO's team, researches the industry |
| 12:00 pm | Joins a diligence call on an IPO and takes notes for the deal team; then a CIM drafting call with the company |
| 2:00 pm | Builds a sell-side pitch: the bank's credentials, a valuation using DCF, LBO and comparables, and buyer profiles |
| 3:30 pm | Reviews the pitch with the associate, turns comments, sends it to the team for sign-off |
| 4:15 pm | Builds slides for a management presentation on another sell-side deal and sends a draft to the client |
| 6:00–7:30 pm | Finalizes the pitch, orders dinner with other analysts, uploads diligence files to the data room |
| 9:00 pm | Makes the changes from the CIM drafting session |
| 11:00 pm | Sends the revised CIM, sets up the next drafting call, heads home |
Source: Piper Sandler, “A day in the life of an investment banking analyst”. For what a CIM is, see what is a CIM; for the full role, see what an investment banking analyst does.
Is investment banking hard?
Yes, mainly in two ways: the hours and the competition to get in. The work itself is learnable; most of it is accounting, valuation, Excel and PowerPoint done carefully and fast, under deadlines you don't control.
- The hours. Mergers & Inquisitions says that if you can't handle 12 to 15 hours a day in the office, the entry-level job probably isn't for you, and that this isn't likely to change soon (Mergers & Inquisitions).
- Getting in. The same site says the effort to break in has risen: you now need a series of internships and an early start on networking and interview prep, often from the first year of college (Mergers & Inquisitions, “Is Investment Banking Worth It?”).
- The interviews. Bank interviews test technical material. Mergers & Inquisitions notes that IB interview prep takes more time than consulting prep but is easier to study for by memorizing the material, at least at large banks (Mergers & Inquisitions).
If you're at a non-target school, getting in is the harder part. See recruiting from a non-target school and the recruiting timeline.
How should you talk about hours in an interview?
Show you know the hours and have handled a heavy load before; don't ask about hours as your first question. Interviewers want to see that you chose the job knowing the trade-off.
- If they ask whether you can handle the hours, give one specific example: a semester with a job and a full course load, a season of a varsity sport, a project you finished on a hard deadline. Keep it to 30 to 60 seconds.
- If they ask “Why investment banking?”, lead with the work and what you'll learn, not the pay or the exits. See how to answer “Why investment banking?”.
- If you want to ask about hours, ask how the team handles staffing when several deals are live, or how the group uses the bank's weekend policy. That shows you've done your homework.
Practice these out loud with the behavioral interview questions and check your pacing with the answer length tool.
Frequently asked questions
- How many hours a week do investment banking analysts work?
- Usually about 70 to 100. Mergers & Inquisitions puts most analysts at 70 to 80 or more, Corporate Finance Institute says 80 to 100 is common, and a recruiter survey reported by Business Insider found bulge-bracket juniors averaged 81 hours a week in 2025.
- Do investment bankers work weekends?
- Often, but most large banks now protect part of the weekend. Business Insider reported that Goldman Sachs juniors aren't expected in the office from 9 pm Friday to 9 am Sunday, and JPMorgan has a no-work period from 6 pm Friday to noon Saturday, with exceptions.
- Does JPMorgan cap junior banker hours at 80?
- It uses an 80-hour weekly guideline, not a hard cap. CNBC reported in September 2024 that JPMorgan managers told teams junior bankers should typically work no more than 80 hours, with exceptions for live deals.
Hours vary by bank, group, deal flow, office and year. The figures here are published estimates and reported policies from the sources named, not promises about any job. Superday Room isn't affiliated with any bank or with these publishers.
Sources
- Mergers & Inquisitions, “Investment Banking Hours: Why They're So Bad”, 2026 article; read November 1, 2026.
- Business Insider (Alice Tecotzky), read via its AOL syndication, “How Wall Street tries to keep junior hours in check, from weekly guidelines to 'pencils down' periods”, updated April 3, 2026; read November 1, 2026.
- Corporate Finance Institute, “Private Equity vs. Investment Banking”, undated guide; read November 1, 2026.
- CNBC, “Goldman's junior bankers complain of crushing workload amid SPAC-fueled boom in Wall Street deals”, March 18, 2021; read November 1, 2026.
- CNBC, “Goldman CEO addresses junior bankers' complaints after survey goes viral”, March 22, 2021; read November 1, 2026.
- CNBC, “JPMorgan creates new role overseeing junior bankers as Wall Street wrestles with workload concerns”, September 18, 2024; read November 1, 2026.
- Piper Sandler, “A day in the life of an investment banking analyst”, careers page; read November 1, 2026.
- Mergers & Inquisitions, “Is Investment Banking Worth It? Full Discussion”, 2026 article; read November 1, 2026.
- Mergers & Inquisitions, “Management Consulting vs Investment Banking: Exciting, or not? A Full Comparison”, article with comments through 2025; read November 1, 2026.