BofA to Investigate Intern's Death

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has appointed a committee of senior officials to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of a summer intern in London, the bank said.
The bank’s statement said the “formal senior working group” would “review all aspects of this tragedy” and “listen to employees at all levels” as more information becomes available.
The group at the investment-banking division of Bank of America Corp. will be looking at, among other things, whether its interns and other junior employees are encouraged to work overly long hours or are pushed into unhealthily competitive environments as they vie for a limited number of jobs, said a person familiar with the situation.
Moritz Erhardt, who was 21 years old, died on Aug. 15, just before completing his internship with the bank’s investment-banking group. While his cause of death is unknown, it has become a cause célèbre in the U.K., generating widespread media coverage.
London’s Metropolitan Police ruled Mr. Erhardt’s death nonsuspicious, meaning they found no reason to believe anyone else was involved, a police spokeswoman said.
Like other Bank of America interns, Mr. Erhardt was rotating through the division, working on a variety of projects. Long working hours were the norm, as is often the case at investment banks in London, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Interns at investment banks often work between 60 to 80 hours a week, said Scott Rostan, founder of Training the Street Inc., which provides financial-training courses for new Wall Street employees.
In some cases, interns are wooed by investment banks who want them to stick around as full-time associates. Networking opportunities such as dinners and sporting events are included. “Generally speaking, summer internships are less cutthroat” than a full-time position, said Matan Feldman, CEO of Wall Street Prep, an investment-banking training firm.
Sometimes, though, interns assigned to high-profile merger deals can work as many as 100 hours a week. Many students spending their summers at investment banks are often driven to succeed and will go above and beyond what is expected of them, said Mr. Rostan.
Mr. Erhardt was living in an apartment in a block of student housing in East London, a short commute from the City of London and Canary Wharf, the main finance hubs in London. The apartments, normally occupied by university students, had been rented out for summer interns by a number of investment banks and law firms.
On Aug. 15 at about 8:30 p.m. local time, police received a phone call from someone who had found Mr. Erhardt unconscious in the housing complex. Mr. Erhardt was pronounced dead at the scene, the police spokeswoman said.
The coroner’s office performed an autopsy, and an inquest into the cause of death is likely to take place as well, the police spokeswoman said.
Nobody answered the phone Friday afternoon at the coroner’s office. The bank’s London intern program ended its summer session Friday.
The bank said it had offered its support to the Erhardt family, as well as the interns and employees who were affected. “We are deeply shocked and saddened by the news of Moritz Erhardt’s death,” the statement said. He “was popular amongst his peers and was a highly diligent intern at our company with a bright future.”
Write to Lindsay Gellman at lindsay.gellman@wsj.com, David Enrich at david.enrich@wsj.com and Shayndi Raice at shayndi.raice@wsj.com
A version of this article appeared August 23, 2013, on page B2 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Intern’s Death Scrutinized.

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