Here's how much banking interns really earn per hour

The summer interns are about to arrive at investment banks in New York and London. If you're a university student who's used to earning around £8.50 ($11) an hour serving drinks in the university bar, you might be pretty excited at the prospect of being paid good money for 10 weeks' work over the summer.

When the working hours are factored in, however, banking internships aren't that well paid.  

Interns arriving at London banks this summer say the going rate across the industry is £1k ($1.3k) each week for 10 weeks' work, plus some kind of housing allowance (usually another £1k).

This sounds generous, but those same interns are also under no illusion about how hard they'll have to work.

"I've spoken to previous interns and I know that I'll be working from 9am to 11pm Monday to Friday," says one incoming intern at a European bank. 

Even this may be optimistic. Only last year, Morgan Stanley's investment banking interns told us they were expecting to work from 9am to 2am. Little has changed in 12 months and after their first quarter results, most banks spoke optimistically of "full pipelines" which could mean a busy summer. 

Presuming interns only work 14 hour days between Monday and Friday, that £1k a week in intern pay translates to a mere £14.28 an hour. In fact, it may be even less. Yes, there's also the housing allowance thrown in - but it won't go that far in London (which is probably why plenty of interns live with their parents).

Banking internships pay well, but you could probably save a similar amount working a night shift in a provincial McDonald's. 

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