A Bank of America executive with a reputation for boosting junior bankers has been reassigned to a new role at the company following the death of a junior employee who had been working 100 hours a week.
Gary Howe was the head of Bank of America’s Financial Institutions Group (FIG), and was known to not strictly enforce the maximum 80-hour workweek rule for his junior bankers.
Working under Howe was Leo Lukenas III, a former Green Beret who died suddenly in May at the age of 35. He had been working day and night to close a major merger before his death.
In the weeks before, Lukenas complained about the amount of time he had been working and had considered asking for a 10 percent pay cut in exchange for fewer hours and more sleep.
Gary Howe was the head of Bank of America’s Financial Institutions Group (FIG) and was known to not strictly enforce the maximum 80-hour work week rule for his junior bankers.
Former Green Beret Leo Lukenas III died on May 2, just a year into a grueling job in investment banking.
Now Howe, a senior executive at the bank, has been stripped of oversight of the division and some suggest it may be only a matter of time before he leaves the company entirely.
Howe’s boss, the bank’s CEO and president, Brian Moynihan, has a reputation for not firing workers and prefers to send a signal by demoting them.
Howe, 54, was stripped of his responsibility over the FinTech investment banking team in August, a significant reduction in his authority.
Bank of America is known for handling internal affairs quietly, often through pay reductions and title changes rather than outright layoffs, making it difficult for executives to stay long-term under such circumstances.
No disciplinary action has been taken against Howe, but about 50 of the 150 employees in its FinTech unit were reassigned to another group last week, it reports. Bloomberg.
Lukenas’ death has served to highlight the harsh conditions faced by junior bankers and the excessive hours worked.
Howe’s boss, the bank’s CEO and president, Brian Moynihan, in turn has a reputation for not firing workers and prefers to send a signal by demoting them.
This incident also sparked debate about whether the culture within the financial industry is simply too demanding and whether there are adequate safeguards for employees.
Legal experts have suggested that the bank may be distancing itself from Howe to mitigate potential legal consequences of Lukenas’ death, although there is no concrete evidence that the banker’s excessive work hours directly contributed to his death.
Still, Lukenas’ death, reportedly caused by a fatal blood clot, came after a long period of intense work, and some family members believed the pressure he faced at work may have played a role.
Howe never commented publicly on the matter and deleted his LinkedIn account after the incident.
Despite a reduction in his supervisory responsibilities, Matthew Koder, head of global corporate and investment banking, has said Howe continues to be a valued leader in the FIG group.
“Gary has our full support as the leader of our Global Financial Institutions Investment Banking group and we continue to invest in this leading franchise,” Koder told New York Post.
Howe himself had a reputation for pushing young bankers to the limit, prompting complaints from those who worked under him.
Those who had worked with him at UBS criticized his management style and the long hours required for tasks that included putting together proposal books, often for deals that never materialized.
Leo Lukenas III, a 35-year-old former Green Beret and Bank of America investment banker, died in May after working 100 hours a week. He is survived by his wife and two children.
At Bank of America, his demanding nature followed him, where he pushed his team hard, including enforcing a much stricter return-to-office policy after the pandemic, requiring employees to be in the office by 9: 30 am four days a week.
This summer, the bank implemented stricter measures to monitor employee work hours and implemented a new system that requires junior bankers to report their hours daily instead of weekly.
This change occurred after a Wall Street Journal The investigation revealed how some managers instructed employees to underreport their hours and ignore the 80-hour weekly limit established more than a decade ago, requiring approval for any exceptions.
The limit was established after the death of an intern who had worked almost 72 hours straight.
However, sources believe that even with these rules in place, some junior bankers, like Lukenas, found themselves working well beyond the recommended limits.
Lukenas, who joined Bank of America in March 2023, lived in Brooklyn with his wife and two young children.
The former Army Special Forces member turned to banking in an attempt to “pursue new opportunities for his family,” according to loved ones.
Bank of America has now introduced a timekeeping tool that requires employees to specify how they spend their time (file photo)
At JP Morgan, junior staff are already required to enter their hours on timesheets (file photo)
Those close to him say he had expressed frustration about the long hours and the toll they were taking on his personal life and had considered leaving the company, speaking to recruiters about possible job opportunities at rival banks.
His death came just days after completing work on a $2 billion merger between UMB Financial and Heartland Financial.
A junior banker at BoA said of Lukenas’ death: “I think what we would all want is some acknowledgment about what happened, and at least not completely dismiss the fact that it could have been work-related.”
‘And at least start having those conversations about how they can make the working lives of junior bankers much better because it’s been needed for a long time. And I think, if anything, it’s gotten worse.
Lukenas served as a Green Beret for a decade, according to his family.
Lukenas is survived by his parents, his wife and his twin brother Les, who is also a Green Beret.
Howe attended Lukenas’ funeral along with approximately 50 Bank of America employees, including senior executives.
TO donation page was created by the nonprofit group 51 Vets in his honor with the goal of reaching $1,000,000.
While the long-term impact of this incident on Bank of America’s internal culture remains to be seen, rival banks are also making changes.
Last month, JPMorgan, one of Bank of America’s main competitors, implemented its own limit on work hours for junior bankers, limiting them to 80 hours per week.
Whether such measures will lead to lasting change in Wall Street’s high-pressure environment remains to be seen, as employees and insiders watch how the industry responds to the increasing scrutiny.