BofA Merrill Lynch fast-tracks junior bankers

NEW YORK: Bank of America Merrill Lynch has joined its investment banking peers by offering a fast-track promotion process for its 2017 analyst intake, as investment banks work harder to hold on to their junior workers.

Front-office analysts who joined BAML in August will now be promoted to associate after two years, according to sources close to the situation. Junior bankers previously spent three years as analysts before being bumped up to the next level. A memo from Christian Meissner, head of global corporate and investment banking at BAML, was sent out yesterday announcing the changes. Financial News has seen the memo.

BAML's move lags several of its investment banking competitors by more than two years. Goldman Sachs was the first large investment bank to roll out fast-track promotions for its juniors in November 2015 - both Wall Street and European investment banks swiftly followed.

Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland have already followed Goldman Sachs' lead by shaving a year off their analyst programme, while JPMorgan and Credit Suisse offer the same incentive for top-performing analysts. Barclays and UBS now promote their analysts after two and a half years, a reduction of six months.

BAML told junior bankers on Wednesday that all its latest analyst class would be fast-tracked to associate over two years, said the sources, while those who joined in 2016 would be given the opportunity on a case-by-case basis to move to associate quicker. BAML's move comes as investment banks continue to roll out changes to keep their junior workforce happy. The banks have been increasingly losing out on top graduates to large technology firms, which are perceived by some to offer more interesting work and a better work-life balance.