Perverse incentives and fear of the unknown keep senior bankers stuck in lucrative but unsatisfying jobs
© Lehel Kovács
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Craig Coben
JANUARY 5 2026 5:00 AM
I recently had lunch with a Hong Kong-based executive in his fifties who runs an Asian trading desk for a European investment bank. He said he was bored of the work, exhausted by politics and tired of the compliance intrusions. Yet he plans to stay until someone forces him out.
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