Morning Coffee: Where inexperienced 20 year olds can earn $8k a month. A new take on the hipster office - peace and quiet

If you're 18-20, looking for an all-expenses paid internship that will also offer a pro rata salary higher than most jobs pay after 10 years' experience, then investment banking was the place to be. The pay off for a 'real' salary was, of course, brutal hours, fetching coffee and a gladiatorial battle with your fellow interns. But, hey, $5k a month.

Now, the financial sector has a lot of competition for intern pay, and it's largely coming from Silicon Valley. Facebook pays its interns $8k a month, Microsoft pays over $7k and even energy company ExxonMobile offers around $6.5k, according to a Glassdoor ranking cited in Bloomberg.

You have to look a long way down the list before a finance firm pops up, and even then it's on the buy-side. BlackRock - which pays a mere $5k or so. Deutsche Bank is the highest paying bank, suggest the figures with median monthly pay of $4,640, while Bank of America offered. $4,570.

Glassdoor's figures for banks may be a little on the low side, however. Our own research of the site's figures around this time last year suggested Citigroup was the highest paying bank, with an average of $6.7k per month for its summer interns in New York specifically, but every investment bank paid over $5k. The average salary in the U.S. is around $4k a month.

Separately, Blackstone is the latest financial services organisation to shake-up its workspaces for hip young tech professionals, but there's not a foosball table in site. Instead, what young technologists really want from an office is...quiet and comfort. There is a pool table, but Blackstone says that it's primary focus is to "make the space feel like home". Just with lots of chrome and huge screens everywhere.

Meanwhile: 

Jes Staley has waded into a battle between KKR - one of Barclays' most powerful clients - and a Brazilian data company, on behalf of his brother-in-law (WSJ)

Bob Diamond says that Jes Staley is "solid" and the right man for the job at Barclays (Bloomberg)

Bob Diamond say that Brexit is going to be "very very disruptive". The infrastructure for the clearing business that's currently in London simply isn't there in other EU states, he says. (Bloomberg)

The EU could grab location restrictions on clearing even before negotiations begin (Financial Times)

The UK refuses to acknowledge the cold hard reality - financial services is likely to suffer because of Brexit (Politico)

Theresa May: "a bloody difficult woman" (Financial Times)

Fred the Shred could be dragged into a courtroom drama, years after RBS's rescue (Financial Times)

European banks are losing ground (WSJ)

Credit Suisse has 20 robots dealing with simple compliance queries, which have reduced the number of calls in its compliance center by 50% (Reuters)

Jamie Dimon: "I wasn't a Trump supporter when he was running, I wasn't a big Democratic supporter either because I really don't like their anti-business sentiment. I wish they would use the words 'free enterprise' every now and then, or 'success is a good thing'." (Business Insider)

Bill Ackman is setting up shop in London (Evening Standard)

Anyone with a younger boss should say, “I know a lot of stuff and I’d like to be your partner in execution.” (WSJ)

How to become a top banker in China: "The Chinese are generally quiet and humble. If you think you are ten, you tend to be conservative, offer a discount and say you are eight." (SCMP)

Contact: pclarke@efinancialcareers.com