• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

After 40 investors rejected Jeff Bezos’ Amazon pitch, his parents offered $245,573 of their retirement savings

2

D.C.'s affordability headache has a silver bullet, new study shows: Tackling $40 trillion national debt would boost household income by $36,000

3

China now makes up a record 40% of all global container exports—and it’s a sign Trump’s tariffs meant to punish Chinese firms have fallen flat

1

After 40 investors rejected Jeff Bezos’ Amazon pitch, his parents offered $245,573 of their retirement savings

2

D.C.'s affordability headache has a silver bullet, new study shows: Tackling $40 trillion national debt would boost household income by $36,000

3

China now makes up a record 40% of all global container exports—and it’s a sign Trump’s tariffs meant to punish Chinese firms have fallen flat

The 10 investment banks employees most want to quit

By
March 15, 2012, 11:28 AM ET
Google source logo
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

FORTUNE — Erstwhile Goldman Sachs vice president Greg Smith’s jeremiad on The New York Times’ op-ed page marked a more spectacular departure than most, but Smith is hardly the only Wall Streeter who’s had enough.

Escape the City — the name refers to the City of London, that town’s financial district — was launched in 2010 to help disillusioned bankers find their dream jobs. The outfit is now expanding to New York “in response to huge demand coming out of Wall Street,” says Michael Howe, the partner who runs the firm’s New York office.

Howe recently analyzed data from the 55,000 people registered on Escape the City’s web site and came up with a list of the 10 investment firms where the most employees want to leave. They are:

1. JPMorgan Chase (JPM)
2. Goldman Sachs (GS)
3. Morgan Stanley (MS)
4. Bank of America (BAC)
5. Citigroup (C)
6. Lazard (LAZ)
7. UBS (UBS)
8. Deutsche Bank (DB)
9. Credit Suisse (CS)
10. Barclays (BCS)

Citing research showing that about 60% of all corporate employees would choose a different line of work if they had a chance to do it over again (51% of twentysomethings already have misgivings about the career paths they’ve chosen), Howe — himself a Merrill Lynch refugee — says he and his two partners started Escape the City “because we were frustrated, unfulfilled, and uninspired by our jobs and realized many others were, too.”

To be sure, some ex-financiers end up in other corporate positions — just, evidently, more interesting ones: Big companies like Google, Apple, and Groupon regularly troll the firm’s site looking for iconoclastic new hires.

Still, most of the restless bankers who sign on to Escape the City are looking for something completely different. Among the jobs they have found through the site so far: Managing a beach lodge in Mozambique, running a post office in Antarctica, hosting a safari camp in northern Botswana, keeping the books for a luxury golf resort on the Red Sea, and hosting a television series called Paradise Hunter.


Latest in blogging


Most Popular

Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • TikTok icon
  • YouTube icon

    Latest in blogging


    Most Popular

    © 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
    FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.