Goldman Sachs: Bankers vs. traders

The banker vs. trader divide on Wall Street is nearly mythic; it's the stuff of novels really. Who can forget the real-life war that wracked Lehman Brothers' Kuhn Loeb, so wonderfully chronicled by Ken Auletta in Greed and Glory on Wall Street. The divide at Goldman Sachs (GS) was discussed when Lloyd Blankfein became CEO.

Now, the New York Times revives it with a look at Blankfein based on interviews with 20 partners. The big knock on Blankfein is that he brings a trader's mentality, cultivated over a lifetime, and has surrounded himself with like-minded people. The result is that Goldman appears to be as much, if not more, a trading outfit than an advisory firm, emphasizing short-term gains over long-term relationships and principles.

All this may have started when the partnership went public, but Blankfein has exacerbated it all, the critics say. Bankers are now being pressed to wring more profits out of clients, and are being monitored for how much rain they generate. In a sense this is predictable criticism. But in another sense it is a shot across the bow of the Blankfein steamship. The article underscores that not all is well in the house of Goldman. As long as Goldman keeps generating profits, Blankfein will survive, but you get the feeling that his critics are ready to pounce if given an opportunity. 

For more:
- here's the article

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