[jorblume]

It's a gut check for motivation. How badly do you want to be there? Are you willing to give almost everything for the firm?

Hazing might be a part of it but I see it more like boot camp than anything else. Weed out those who don't have the fortitude and drive. They don't want employees who value family time over the company, for example. Forcing people to work insane hours will self select for the "right stuff".

It's not about productivity, it's about cultivating a specific culture.

[Floegipoky]

They're weeding out anyone who prioritizes literally anything in their lives above money and their job, and at the same time showing those that are left that treating others as less than human is all in a day's work.

And we wonder why the financial industry keeps finding new ways to profit at the expense of others.