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Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Having confessed criminal conduct,Bullish Goldman Sachs posts lotus on India map! SAC Agrees to Plead Guilty in Insider-Trading Settlement U.S. Says Hedge Fund Will Pay Total $1.8 Billion in Penalties Latest PMI figures indicate more gloom for India’s economy

Having confessed criminal conduct,Bullish Goldman Sachs posts lotus on India map!

SAC Agrees to Plead Guilty in Insider-Trading Settlement

U.S. Says Hedge Fund Will Pay Total $1.8 Billion in Penalties

Latest PMI figures indicate more gloom for India's economy


Palash Biswas


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Indian Express

Advani quotes from book: 'Nehru called Patel total communalist'

Indian Express

- ‎1 hour ago‎







"At a cabinet meeting, Patel had described these things and demanded that army be sent to end the terror regime in Hyderabad.

BSE Sensex recovers over 48 points after P. Chidambaram booster shot

Financial Express

- ‎1 hour ago‎







P. Chidambaram exuded confidence that the country's current account deficit (CAD) will be contained, boosting BSE Sensex today.

Dilip C Mandal
इंटरनेट पर हिंदुत्ववादी गाली-गलौज करने वाले लोग नवदीक्षित संघी हैं. उन्हें धोखा हो गया है कि भारत में चुनाव इंटरनेट पर होंगे. और यहां विरोधियों को मां-बहन करके चुप करा दिया, तो समझो काम हो गया.

Like ·  · Share · 19 minutes ago ·

गुजरात में टाटा के "विकास" पर गंभीर चर्चा में व्यस्त बदनाम कॉरपोरेट दलाल नीरा राडिया के साथ मोदी और रतन टाटा! ये है मोदी का असल सच!! मनमोहन से कम बड़ा दलाल नहीं ये मोदी-संघी!!

Like ·  · Share · 35 minutes ago ·

Respect for MLK, 10. Respect for Barack Obama, 0. Imagine that. ~ Tom Retterbush


Having confessed criminal conduct,Bullish Goldman Sachs posts lotus on India map!

SAC Agrees to Plead Guilty in Insider-Trading Settlement

U.S. Says Hedge Fund Will Pay Total $1.8 Billion in Penalties


It isn't only a woman's prerogative to change her mind. If you areGoldman Sachs, then you can very well change your outlook on a country's economy twice in three months.Business standard reports.


On the other hand,Federal prosecutors are conducting a criminal investigation into whether Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS -0.74% or its employees committed securities fraud in connection with its mortgage trading, people familiar with the probe say.Reports Wall Street Journal.

The investigation from the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office, which is at a preliminary stage, stemmed from a referral from the Securities and Exchange Commission, these people say. The SEC recently filed civil securities-fraud charges against the big Wall Street firm and a trader in its mortgage group. Goldman and the trader say they have done nothing wrong and are fighting the civil charges.

Latest PMI figures indicate more gloom for India's economy

The latest batch of economic data out of India points to sustained rupee weakness – a key issue for hundreds of thousands of Indian expatriates across the Arabian Gulf.

India's service sector activity contracted in October for the fourth consecutive month, with the latest data underlining a continued weak economic environment.

The HSBC India Services Purchasing Managers' Index came in at 47.1 last month – a reading below 50 indicates a contraction. The purchasing managers' index is a key measure of the health of a country's business activity, covering areas such as services, retail and manufacturing.

"The latest reading indicated a fourth successive monthly contraction of service-sector output across India," HSBC said. "Sector data indicated that business activity fell in five of the six categories monitored by the survey, with the sharpest decline noted at hotels and restaurants."

The report said that anecdotal evidence suggested that "worsening client confidence, economic instability, competitive pressures and Cyclone Phailin", which hit the country's east coast last month, all contributed to a decline in new work.

The rupee fell to a series of record lows over the summer as funds flowed out of the country on expectations of the United States Federal Reserve winding down its quantitative easing programme as well as concerns about India's gaping current account deficit.

The currency has recovered some of the losses in recent weeks but it remains weak – trading down more than 12 per cent against the dollar at 61.65 yesterday afternoon compared with levels at the beginning of the year. Data such as the latest service sector activity figures do not bode well for the economy and the rupee, say analysts.

"The less than expansionary numbers come as no surprise. India is still dogged by higher price pressures and weak demand, both globally and domestically," said Gaurav Kashyap, the head of futures at Alpari, a global online currency and commodity broker. "These domestic factors will keep any gains for the rupee in check."

Mr Kashyap forecasts the rupee could weaken towards 63 against the dollar followed by a further slide to 65 in the coming weeks.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last week said it expected the economy to grow at just 5 per cent in the current financial year, which runs until the end of March.

That figure is the same as India's decade-low growth in the last financial year. It is well below the levels of about 8 per cent that the country needs to create jobs for the increasing number of citizens entering the workforce.

Figures released on Friday also showed a contraction in the manufacturing sector.

"The continued contraction in service-sector activity is testament to the dampening effects of the heightened macroeconomic uncertainty, which is making businesses and consumers more cautious about spending," said Leif Eskesen, HSBC's chief economist for India and Asean (the Association of South East Asian Nations).

The services PMI reading last month was an improvement on the four-and-a-half year low of 44.6 that it hit in September.

"While activity readings may be stabilising, a notable recovery is not in the cards for a while still," Mr Eskesen said. "Despite the weak growth backdrop, the RBI has to keep its inflation guards up to address the lingering inflation pressures."

Last week, the central bank raised the benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points for the second consecutive month in a effort to fight inflation.

Data out of the US could also have implications for the rupee this week.

"We are keeping a close eye on some key data from the US at the end of this week – third-quarter GDP is expected to have fallen below 2 per cent following the US government shutdown and Friday's payrolls are also expected to come in below 130,000," said Mr Kashyap.

"These weaker than expected figures will lend further support to the dollar in the weeks ahead and this will weigh heavily on higher-yielding assets and the Indian rupee," he added.

Next year, there would be additional factors that would influence the direction of the rupee, he said. "A year filled with heightened levels of volatility and uncertainty for the rupee with the Indian elections and expected taper from the FOMC [America's Federal Open Market Committee] towards the end of the first quarter."

The softness in the rupee has led to a surge in remittances from countries including the UAE, as workers take advantage of the exchange rate.

UAE Exchange, a money transfer company, said remittances by non-resident Indians reached a new high of more than US$6.5 billion in the first nine months of the year and were expected to hit $8.5bn for the whole year.



Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/business/industry-insights/economics/latest-pmi-figures-indicate-more-gloom-for-indias-economy#ixzz2jqEadvYQ

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Investors in the Indian stock market have decidedly turned their opinion in favour of Narendra Modi emerging as India's next prime minister, even though elections to the next Lok Sabha remain several months away. They are also betting on India's economic fortunes turning for the better if and when a Modi-led government takes charge at the centre.


Goldman Sachs is the latest to join the Modi bandwagon in the run-up to the state assembly elections in five crucial states this month.


It has cited Modi's winning chances, alongside other micro and macroeconomic indicators to upgrade India's rating to 'marketweight', which in layman's jargon is investment grade.


In a report titled 'Modi-fying our view: Raise India to marketweight' Goldman Sachs on Tuesday raised its target for Nifty to 6,900 for 2014-end, citing optimism over likely political change in the 2014 elections where the opposition Bhartiya Janata Party, led by Narendra Modi, could throw up a surprise.


The 6,900 target implies a potential 10.34 per cent rise in the NSE benchmark over Tuesday's close of 6,253.15.


The investment bank said that external capital account pressures have moderated for now, and cited signs of a cyclical pick-up and structural improvements in the economy. In addition, it noted that the earnings outlook is stabilising. It said retail redemption pressures could moderate, which is among the factors behind its upgrade.


Marketweight essentially means advising clients to hold on to their Indian equity exposure. Earlier their underweight rating to India was an advice to its clients to sell any exposure that they had to Indian equities. On the other hand, Goldman Sachs is still not advising its clients, who do not have any exposure to Indian equity, to invest.

http://www.mydigitalfc.com/news/goldman-modifies-india-rating-marketweight-262


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Can Narendra Modi-fy India's economy? Experts say you bet!

Economic Times - ‎11 hours ago‎

India is facing macro challenges in terms of fiscal imbalances, high inflation and tight monetary policy; and a change at the Centre is being viewed by analysts as a catalyst to attracting investment in the country, which they feel could happen if the BJP comes ...

Goldman Sachs upgrades India, Nomura hikes Sensex target

Business Standard - ‎15 hours ago‎

Less than three months ago, like many other brokerages, Goldman Sachs had downgraded Indian stocks to underweight position as it saw downside risks to earnings and economic growth coupled with the possibility of a reversal in global liquidity.

Foreign brokerages turn bullish, raise mkt outlook

Daily News & Analysis - ‎1 hour ago‎

The foreign brokerage firm, which till one and half months back, was cautious on India due to downside risks to economy and earnings, now attributes politics, macro and micro improvements for the change in stance. Goldman believes that while optimism ...

Goldman Sachs upgrades India to 'market weight' on Modi effect

Business Standard - ‎Nov 4, 2013‎

The key reasons: 1) Optimism over political change, led by BJP's prime ministerial candidate Modi, is dominatingeconomic concerns. 2) External capital account pressures have moderated, at least for now. 3) There are early signs of cyclical pick up and ...

Goldman upgrades India on Modi effect, raises Nifty target to 6900

NDTV - ‎18 hours ago‎

In a report titled "Modi-fying our View", Goldman notes optimism over political change is trumping concerns over Indian economy, given what the bank says are expectations that the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Prime Minister candidate ...

Goldman Modifies India Rating To Marketweight

mydigitalfc.com - ‎38 minutes ago‎

Investors in the Indian stock market have decidedly turned their opinion in favour of Narendra Modi emerging as India's next prime minister, even though elections to the next Lok Sabha remain several months away. They are also betting on India's economic ...

Goldman Sachs bullish on Narendra Modi, upgrades India to marketweight

Economic Times - ‎2 hours ago‎

Goldman also noted that external capital account pressures have moderated for now, and cited signs of a cyclical pickup and structural improvements in the economy. The investment bank said earnings sentiment had improved, and consensus forecasts have ...

Goldman Sachs bets on Narendra Modi, upgrades India to 'marketweight', raises ...

Financial Express - ‎20 hours ago‎

Goldman Sachs upgrades its view on India to 'marketweight', with a target for the broader NSE index of 6,900 points. Goldman notes optimism over political change is trumping economic concerns, given what the bank says are expectations that the opposition ...

Goldman Sachs ups weight on India, sees Nifty at 6900

Economic Times - ‎20 hours ago‎

At a time when Indian economy struggles to maintain 5 per cent GDP growth rate, there are also some early signs that investment demand has picked-up in Asia's third largest economy, the bank adds. Last month, Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI)'s professional ...

Goldman raises Nifty target to 6900

Zee News - ‎18 hours ago‎

Goldman also notes that external capital account pressures have moderated for now, and cites signs of a cyclical pick-up and structural improvements in the economy. The investment bank likely notes the ... Goldman says it likes technology stocks including HCL Technologies and Tech Mahindra , oil and energy scripts such as Reliance Industries , Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd and CoalIndia Ltd , banks including Yes Bank and IndusInd Bank and select auto and cement stocks. The U.S. bank also included some ...

Goldman Sachs bullish on Modi, sees Nifty at 6900 by 2014-end

Firstpost - ‎19 hours ago‎

2. Market will likely be challenged when the Fed does decide to taper its stimulus, which is currently expected in March 2014. 3. Recent improvement in earnings sentiment could be temporary if economy does not gain traction. 4.India's likely growth range this ...

Goldman Sachs Also Bullish on Modi

Wall Street Journal (blog) - ‎16 hours ago‎

Indeed, optimism about Mr. Modi's chances has been one of the drivers of a record-breaking rally in India'sbenchmark stock index last week, analysts and investors said. Shares have been climbing even as the country faces a bout of stagflation. The economy ...

Goldman Sachs raises Nifty target to 6 900 points

Jagran Post - ‎19 hours ago‎

... also included some mid-cap infrastructure stocks which are trading at inexpensive valuations such as Adani Power, NHPC Ltd, Materials stocks like Grasim Industries, and industrials stocks like Container Corp of India and Adani Ports and SpecialEconomic ...

Samvat 2070: Modi brings hope to markets

NitiCentral - ‎15 hours ago‎

However, the big fear is how the markets, and indeed the Indian economy will react to the US Federal Reserve commencing its tapering programme scheduled now for 2014. Will the investment flows that the Indian Government depends on to not only boost ...

Narendra Modi's Foreign Policy

the Diplomat - ‎Nov 4, 2013‎

Since his ascendance to the BJP's helm as its candidate for prime minister in 2014, Narendra Modi has predictably focused on hiseconomic acumen and successes in Gujurat as a major selling point for his campaign. As the Indian economy appears to leave ...



After downgrading India in August this year, Goldman Sachs has upgraded India on Tuesday to market weight, thanks to the optimism stemming from a possible political change, easing of external account pressures and a stable earnings outlook.


Less than three months ago, like many other brokerages, Goldman Sachs had downgraded Indian stocks to underweight position as it saw downside risks to earnings and economic growth coupled with the possibility of a reversal in global liquidity.


In anticipation of a political change in India next year and improvement in India's external conditions, Goldman Sachs now has upgraded India. Nomura too has increased the March-end target for the Sensex to 22,000. Nomura had cut the Sensex target to 20,000 on expectations that the US Federal Reserve would start tapering its stimulus programme.


Prabhat Awasthi of Nomura in a note dated November 1, says: "The delay in Fed's taper plans, significant positive surprises in trade data (this has been in line with our expectations and has underpinned our overweight rate cyclicals call) and the possibility of positive surprises on the political front have reignited bullish sentiment."


Goldman Sachs too has cited politics, macro and micro developments as key reasons for the change in stance. The Goldman Sachs report, authored by Timothy Moe, says: "Following a detailed set of meetings in Delhi and Mumbai, we believe it is appropriate to raise our investment stance, recognising the equity market has risen sharply from three quarter lows."


The foremost reason for its optimism is political change. BJP's prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, it seems is dominating economic concerns and Goldman Sachs cites that as a reason to upgrade India. Secondly, external pressures have moderated for now.


Thirdly, the brokerage believes there are early signs of cyclical pick-up and structural improvement as several government projects are making progress and coal bottlenecks are easing.


The brokerage also believes that the earnings outlook is stabilising and it has raised EPS growth forecast for calendar 2014 to 11% from 8%. The brokerage also hopes that retail redemption pressure could moderate, which could improve the equity demand-supply balance.


While it is difficult to counter the change in sentiment, stemming from a possible political change and the reversal in global liquidity, inflow of dollars into India a indeed a big positive. After the Fed's decision to delay the taper, foreign investors have invested $3.5 billion in Indian equities through September and October.


Other than this there is little evidence to suggest that economic growth is on the mend - the Purchasing Managers' Index also known as PMI continued to contract for services and manufacturing in October.


Banks continue to see a pile-up of stressed assets and the interest cycle isn't ready to turn just yet, which is critical for cyclical stocks to perform. Yet, brokerages are turning bullish on India. The change in stance could have more to do with sentiment than fundamentals.


Goldman Sachs bullish on Narendra Modi, upgrades India to marketweight

By ET Bureau | 6 Nov, 2013, 03.00AM IST

2 comments |Post a Comment

MUMBAI: Goldman Sachs upgraded India's rating to marketweight from underweight on the perception that BJP-led National Democratic Alliance "could prevail" in the 2014 elections while adding that better corporate profitability and signs of an early pickup in cyclical sectors have also played a part.


"Currently, the macro challenges that India faces in terms of external and fiscal imbalances, high inflation and tight monetary policy are being dominated by expectations of political change," Goldman said in its 18-page report, 'Modi-fying our View: Raise India to Marketweight'. Narendra Modi is BJP's PM candidate.


The report said the earnings outlook was stabilising and FY14 EPS (earnings per share) forecast was being increased to 11% from 8%.


The firm has revised the Nifty 2014 target to 6,900, about 10% higher than its close on Tuesday.


Goldman is the first major brokerage to upgrade Nifty forecasts based on investor perception of a strong BJP showing in the May 2014 polls. Indian stocks have surged 22% from the August low of 17,448 to a record of 21,321, helped by Rs 31,200 crore of purchases by foreign funds that have returned following the postponement of a decision on the Fed taper, having exited on talk in May of the bond-buying coming to an end. On Tuesday, the Nifty ended 1% down at 6,253 while the Sensex ended 1.25% down at 20,975.

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Opinion polls have shown BJP gaining support after the elevation of the Gujarat chief minister as its prime ministerial candidate. NDA is expected to secure over 180 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha, according to some opinion polls. "Equity investors tend to view BJP as business-friendly, and its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi as an agent of change," the Goldman report said.

Brokerages have been raising earnings and index forecasts. Japanese brokerage Nomura has raised its Sensex target for 2013 to 22,000 from 20,000, saying the delay in the US Federal Reserve's plans to withdraw its stimulus programme, significant positive surprises in trade data and the possibility of positive surprises on the political front have reignited the bullish fervour.


Both Goldman and Nomura have warned of risks to the stock market surge from an unexpected decline in corporate earnings, outflow of foreign money due to Fed tapering and slow growth.


Goldman also noted that external capital account pressures have moderated for now, and cited signs of a cyclical pickup and structural improvements in the economy. The investment bank said earnings sentiment had improved, and consensus forecasts have stabilised after persistent downgrades since January.


The MSCI India index is trading at 14.5 times its forward P/E and 2.6 times trailing book value. At 14.5 times forward P/E, the market may have adequately priced in any upgrades in forward growth views and removal of macro 'tail-risks', but Goldman believes there may be potential for a near-term valuation overshoot driven by expectations of political change.


Deutsche Bank raised its December 2013 Sensex target to 22,000 from 21,000, stressing that investor pessimism was receding amid positive factors such as currency stabilisation, rural demand recovery, global growth and a good monsoon.


Goldman has listed HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, RIL, BPCL, CIL, YES Bank, IndusInd Bank, Adani Power, NHPC, Grasim, Container Corp and Adani Ports as some of its top picks. Nomura has replaced HDFC Bank with IDFC and added Axis Bank in its 'long-only' basket. Nomura's top five strategy picks are now ICICI Bank, HCL Tech, RIL, Tata Steel and NTPC.


http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/stocks-in-news/goldman-sachs-bullish-on-narendra-modi-upgrades-india-to-marketweight/articleshow/25278281.cms

U.S. prosecutors announce hedge-fund group SAC Capital Advisors has agreed to plead guilty in an insider-trading indictment and pay $1.8 billion in penalties. Former SEC enforcement attorney Bradley Bondi joins the News Hub with his take on the historic settlement.

The government's decadelong investigation of one of the nation's most powerful hedge funds culminated in a record fine and an admission of guilt—but didn't net the big-name manager whom prosecutors and investigators had pursued.

As expected, federal prosecutors announced a $1.2 billion insider-trading settlement with hedge-fund giant SAC Capital Advisors LP, following SAC's earlier, $616 million civil pact with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The $1.8 billion penalty, a record for an insider-trading case, will go to the U.S. Treasury.

After denying for years that it had done anything wrong, the firm founded by billionaireSteven A. Cohen agreed to plead guilty to criminal insider-trading charges; to give up managing outside investors' money; to submit to a five-year probationary period; and to monitoring by a compliance consultant.

The pact marks a high point in an era of unprecedented insider-trading prosecutions and is the most high-profile guilty plea involving a major Wall Street firm since Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. in 1989 pleaded guilty to six felony counts and paid a $650 million fine. Drexel collapsed in 1990.

The punishment is appropriate given the "pervasive and unprecedented conduct that occurred here," said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

"We take responsibility for the handful of men who pleaded guilty," SAC said in a statement. "These wrongdoers do not represent the 3,000 honest men and women who have worked at the firm during the past 21 years. Even one person crossing the line into illegal behavior is too many and we greatly regret this conduct occurred."

Enlarge Image

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and FBI's April Brooks at Monday conference. Peter Foley/Bloomberg News

Prosecutors, despite having long had Mr. Cohen in their sights, won't charge him personally with any crime unless new evidence surfaces, according to people familiar with the probe. The settlement would resolve both a criminal indictment against SAC and a related civil forfeiture case filed by federal prosecutors. Judges in both those cases would have to approve the pact.

Prosecutors noted that the deal "provides no immunity from prosecution for any individual." Asked whether he was disappointed in not charging the man who built what Mr. Bharara called a criminal enterprise, the U.S. attorney said getting SAC to plead guilty and pay a record fine was "very substantial" and "important."

The deal caps the probe of one of Wall Street's top-performing hedge funds by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, federal prosecutors and the SEC.

Some Wall Street traders viewed the financial hit as a bet by the 57-year-old Mr. Cohen that he can put his legal troubles in the past, manage his own multibillion-dollar fortune, and perhaps return to managing money for outside investors through a new company. Mr. Cohen declined to comment.

The action marks a turning point for criminal prosecution of corporations. After shying away from indicting companies since the 2002 criminal charges of Arthur Andersen—which killed the accounting firm even though the charges were later reversed on appeal—government officials say they now will seek to indict companies when warranted despite the risk to employees and others.

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Preet Bharara, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York speaks at a news conference Nov. 4, 2013, about a federal indictment against SAC Capital. Photo: Getty Images.

SAC and Steven A. Cohen Over the Years

View Graphics

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Who's Who in the SAC Case

The announcement in July of criminal charges against SAC Capital Advisors marked the culmination of a yearslong probe that has produced criminal and civil cases against several individuals.

View Graphics

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SAC's Paper Trail

The government spent years building a case against SAC and its hedge-fund traders. Read the court documents filed by prosecutors and regulators.

View Graphics

SAC's tolerance of insider trading was "nothing short of institutional failure," said April Brooks, an FBI assistant special agent in charge, in a news conference Monday.

SAC agreed to plead guilty to four counts of securities fraud—one for each of the four SAC units that were charged—and one count of wire fraud. The pleas would occur after the judge in the criminal case approves the pact.

Mr. Cohen still faces a civil suit against him personally by the SEC, which is seeking to ban him from the securities industry for allegedly overlooking insider-trading at his firm. SAC has said the suit has "no merit." An SEC spokeswoman declined to comment.

SAC's lawyers had negotiated with regulators to see whether an agreement could be announced in that case along with the settlement of the criminal charges, but they weren't able to come to terms, people familiar with the discussions say. That case is likely to be decided by an SEC administrative law judge if it goes to trial.

In announcing the SAC indictment in July, Mr. Bharara called the firm Mr. Cohen built a "magnet for market cheaters."

The indictment, alluding to Mr. Cohen without naming him, said SAC's owner failed to question employees about suspicious information and recruited people he thought could get access to nonpublic information.

The historic accord announced Monday was a victory for the government. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have obtained 75 guilty pleas or convictions out of 83 people charged with insider trading since August 2009, not including the four SAC Capital entities.

Fighting the criminal case would have been difficult, legal experts say, because federal law makes a corporation responsible for illegal activities by its employees. With federal prosecutors citing six guilty pleas by former SAC employees, the firm's odds of prevailing in a trial were slim, the experts said.

The U.S. had reason to be bold. It has won convictions in at least seven criminal insider-trading cases that have gone to trial in the past few years, including big ones against Galleon Group hedge-fund founder Raj Rajaratnam and former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. director Rajat Gupta.

Some defense lawyers said they thought a case was made against the firm as a fall-back because the government was unable to bring charges against Mr. Cohen himself. Mr. Bharara, however, has said companies should be held accountable when their leaders fail to adequately monitor employees and encourage a culture of corruption.

Mr. Cohen told associates after the indictment that he hoped to settle quickly to salvage what was left of his company. SAC averaged annualized returns of more than 25% over two decades and managed $15 billion at the beginning of 2013, around the time outside investors began asking for their money back.

Now, Mr. Cohen is likely to run it as so-called family office, managing the $9 billion that belongs to him and his employees, people familiar with the firm say. Traders and others who profit from doing business with SAC said Monday they expect the firm to shed dozens of employees between now and early 2014.

In the indictment, prosecutors said the firm repeatedly took inside information related to public companies and turned it into trading profits.

The contentiousness that marked the government's investigation of SAC continued even after the settlement, with the hedge fund putting out a statement in which it took responsibility for employees' crimes but said "SAC has never encouraged, promoted or tolerated insider trading." That was in contradiction to the indictment to which SAC had agreed to plead guilty.

The statement piqued government officials, people familiar with the matter said. The officials expressed their displeasure to SAC's management, these people said. Later, SAC revised its statement, saying, "Even one person crossing the line into illegal behavior is too many and we greatly regret this conduct occurred."

The probe into SAC has been one of the longest-running investigations of a financial firm in Wall Street history, with government officials first having suspicions about trading at SAC more than 10 years ago.

Mr. Cohen built SAC over the past two decades into a powerhouse, revered among investors for its returns and valued as a lucrative trading partner at many major securities firms. The firm's trading prowess also helped Mr. Cohen amass what is considered one of the best private art collections in the world and a number of multimillion-dollar homes.

—Jean Eaglesham

and Jenny Strasburg

contributed to this article.

Full Coverage: The SAC Insider-Trading Cases

Write to Michael Rothfeld at michael.rothfeld@wsj.com

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303482504579177602847708162



Can Narendra Modi-fy India's economy? Experts say you bet!The markets seem to be betting big on a Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre.

The markets seem to be betting big on a Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre.


"Equity investors tend to view the BJP as business-friendly, and BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi (current chief minister of Gujarat) as an agent of change," says Goldman Sachs says in its latest report titled 'Modi-fying our view ...'


India is facing macro challenges in terms of fiscal imbalances, high inflation and tight monetary policy; and a change at the Centre is being viewed by analysts as a catalyst to attracting investment in the country, which they feel could happen if the BJP comes to power.


"BJP and Mr Modi, in particular, have been focussed on infrastructure and capital spending in the past and a BJP-led government may be beneficial for the investment demand pick-up, in our view," the report adds.


Goldman is the latest to jump on the bandwagon. The same has been claimed by several individual analysts and brokerages over the past one month.


In fact, some like Manish Sonthalia, VP & Fund Manager, Motilal Oswal Asset Management, feel that a BJP win in the coming assembly elections could see the Nifty running may be up to 7,000-odd levels.


In case, the BJP fails to win less than three states in these elections, he sees Nifty back to 5,000-5,500 levels.


The current rally in the Sensex, which saw the index hitting record highs in the past week, is being attributed to two factors - the decision in the US to continue with the monetary easing programme and the Modi factor.


Here's what analysts have said on Modi in the recent past:


Arvind Sanger, Managing Partner, Geoshpere Capital Management: Frankly, a Modi-led government will be positive for the market.


Sanjeev Prasad, Senior Executive Director & Co-Head, Kotak Institutional Equities: If there is something in favour of the BJP in state assembly elections, the market will take that positively."


UBS: Based on our discussions with investors, markets are positively inclined towards Mr Narendra Modi-led BJP and less so towards the Congress, despite some course correction in policies recently by the latter.


CLSA: The Indian stock market's greatest hope is the emergence of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the BJP's prime ministerial candidate.


Today, Goldman Sachs raised its investment stance on India to 'marketweight'. Among the reasons cited, Modi factor was on the top of its list.


Other factors are as listed below:


1. External capital account pressures have moderated, at least for now.


2. There are early signs of cyclical pick up and structural improvement.


3. The earnings outlook is stabilizing and we have raised our CY2014 EPS growth forecast from 8% to 11%.


4. Midrange valuations are not a constraint if fundamentals continue to stabilize; midcaps trade at a 30% discount to the broad market.


5. Retail redemption pressure could moderate, which could improve the equity demand/supply balance.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/analysis/can-narendra-modi-fy-indias-economy-experts-say-you-bet/articleshow/25268519.cms


Rupee seen slipping back to 70: Why it's good for India's economySome analysts see the rupee stabilising at 61-62 levels, but then others are seeing it at that mark pro tem.

Editor's Pick


Indian stock markets may be on a roll, hitting new highs every day since last Wednesday; but the rupee is virtually where it was, flickering in the 61-62 range. Experts have a proratable view on where the Indian currency is headed - below 60, or back to 69 levels against the US dollar.


"Given the inflation differentials, and I think they will persist, as the latest theory on inflation now is that it's a very much a demographic issue ... I'd say that there are greater chances of the rupee hitting 70 rather than 60," says AV Rajwade, Forex and Treasury Risk Management Consultant.


But he feels that it is good thing that we see depreciation in the currency. "If we take a relatively long-term view in terms of economic history post world war, every fast growing economy, Germany and Japan after the end of the war; then Korea, Taiwan, the Asian tigers, the Asian cubs and 30-years-now China; they've all grown on the basis of undervalued currencies ..." he adds.


"It is better for us to have a weaker currency than otherwise. In fact, I feel that the RBI should have used this opportunity to shore up their reserves. Why do we need a currency below 60 to the dollar. We don't. But at the same time it's important that we do not let panic prevail when the currency hits 68 or 70," says Manoj Rane, MD & Head Fixed Income & Treasury-India, BNP Paribas.


Some analysts see the rupee stabilising at 61-62 levels, but then others are seeing it at that mark pro tem.


"We may have seen some stability in the rupee around 61-62 levels. I don't think the problem in terms of volatility has been solved. What we need to remember is the $8-billion demand every month, which is around $350 million every day, and that is being met from outside the market. Now, what happens when that comes in the market? I think there's a big question mark on that," says Rajwade.


Conversing stock markets in relation to the currency, analysts say it is advantage bears.


"The only saving grace that the bears have is that despite the 11,000 crore-odd FII buying in the last 15 sessions, the rupee has tumbled to a three-week low," says Shardul Kulkarni of Angel Broking.


"We continue to mention that we are bearish on the rupee and expect rupee depreciation in the coming weeks. Currency traders should ideally buy the dollar with 59.5 as stop loss for a target of 65/66, a strategy that we have been mentioned in the last few articles," he adds.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/forex/rupee-seen-slipping-back-to-70-why-its-good-for-indias-economy/articleshow/25213184.cms

In India, economic slowdown and inflation cause middle class to defer dreams

(Graham Crouch/ For The Washington Post ) - Store owner Vivek Sharma has seen a dramatic dropoff in spending in the lead-up to the Diwali festival. Changing economic circumstances have seen India's new middle class reducing its spending habits.

By Annie Gowen, Wednesday, November 6, 3:44 AM E-mail the writer

GHAZIABAD, India — Just outside India's capital, partially finished high-rises line the smog-veiled skyline, concrete monuments to the aspirations of the country's middle class.

They are among the hundreds of developments aimed at the rising ranks of home buyers — two- and three-bedroom units in buildings with air conditioning, washer-dryers and security booths. Real estate agents' billboards tout the "V.V.I.P. way of life."

Gallery

Hindus celebrate Diwali: The most important festival of the year in India, Diwali celebrates the triumph of good over evil. Sikhs carry out a procession a day after the Diwali festival to mark Bandi Chhor Divas.

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But as Asia's third-largest economy has slowed in recent months, buyers in places such as Ghaziabad have vanished, capital has dried up, and some projects have been slowed, stalled or even abandoned.

A decade of rapid growth propelled tens of millions of Indians from poverty into a middle class that now numbers 200 million to 300 million, an extraordinary social transformation in this nation of 1.2 billion. But these days, the optimism that once inspired slogans such as "India Rising" is fading.

The economy is expected to grow only 4 or 5 percent this year, not enough to create the salaried jobs needed for the country's expanding workforce. The rupee fell to a historic low against the dollar in August.Prices for staples such as fuel and onionshave skyrocketed. India's economic woes have had "significant spillover effects" on the rest of South Asia, home to the world's largest concentration of poor people, according to a recent World Bank report.

Ghaziabad offers a glimpse of a country where the middle-class dream is on hold.

"People are frustrated," said Prashant Mehrotra, 38, a hospitality industry employee who was supposed to move with his family into a new flat more than two years ago but is stuck in a rental waiting for construction to be finished. The brochure for his development, called Ajnara Integrity, promises two pools, a Zen garden, a cricket lawn and a sun plaza.

Nearby, real estate salesmen sit idly in booths and fan away flies, waiting for customers who rarely come. Others crowd the road, dodging horse-drawn carts and new-model sedans, waving shiny brochures.

Ramesh Kumar, 35, was manning the new vegetable stand he had set up to augment income from his struggling vegetarian food stall. He quit his job as a car salesman four years ago, banking on the soaring construction in the Raj Nagar neighborhood of Ghaziabad for his future. Now he's borrowing money from his father to keep afloat.

"I thought this was an up-and-coming area," he said. "With so many flats coming in, I thought there would be lots of buyers. That did not happen."

Disillusioned group

Over the past decade, new economic policies and a boom in India's information-technology and business-services industries fueled expansive growth of the economy — 8 percent per year on average from 2003 to 2012. But recently, a spike in inflation, high interest rates, infrastructure problems and a series of government corruption scandals have slowed the momentum of the world's most populous democracy.

Most experts — including India's new central-bank governor, Raghuram Rajan — expect that the economy will improve next year, partly because of a strong monsoon season that would help agriculture and because of new government measures to help restart stalled infrastructure projects.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/economic-slowdown-inflation-cause-indias-middle-class-to-defer-dreams/2013/11/05/ace864ba-4189-11e3-b028-de922d7a3f47_story.html


Goldman Sachs

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
Goldman Sachs.svg
Type Public
Traded as NYSEGS
Dow Jones Industrial Average Component
S&P 500 Component
IndustryBankingFinancial Services
Founded1869
Founder(s)Marcus Goldman,
Samuel Sachs
Headquarters 200 West Street,
New York, New York, U.S.
Area servedWorldwide
Key peopleLloyd C. Blankfein
(Chairman & CEO)
ProductsAsset managementcommercial bankingcommodities,investment bankinginvestment managementmutual funds,prime brokerage
RevenueIncrease US$ 34.163 billion (2012)[1]
Operating income Increase US$ 11.207 billion (2012)[2]
Net income Increase US$ 7.475 billion (2012)[2]
Total assets Increase US$ 938.55 billion (2012)[2]
Total equity Increase US$ 75.716 billion (2012)[2]
Employees31,700 (2013)[2]
WebsiteGoldmanSachs.com

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational investment banking firm that engages in global investment bankingsecuritiesinvestment management, and otherfinancial services primarily with institutional clients.

Goldman Sachs was founded in 1869 and is headquartered at 200 West Street in theLower Manhattan area of New York City, with additional offices in international financial centers. The firm provides mergers and acquisitions advice, underwriting services, asset management, and prime brokerage to its clients, which include corporations, governments and individuals. The firm also engages in market making and private equity deals, and is aprimary dealer in the United States Treasury security market. It is recognized as one of the premier investment banks in the world,[3][4] but has sparked a great deal of controversy over its alleged improper practices, especially since the 2007–2012 global financial crisis.

Former Goldman executives who moved on to government positions include: Robert Rubinand Henry Paulson who served as United States Secretary of the Treasury under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, respectively; Mario Draghi, President of theEuropean Central BankMark Carney, Governor of the Bank of Canada 2008–13 and Governor of the Bank of England from July 2013.

Contents

  [hide

History[edit]

1869–1930[edit]

Goldman Sachs was founded in New York in 1869 by the German-born Marcus Goldman.[5][6] In 1882, Goldman's son-in-law Samuel Sachs joined the firm.[7] In 1885, Goldman took his son Henry and his son-in-law Ludwig Dreyfuss into the business and the firm adopted its present name, Goldman Sachs & Co.[8] The company made a name for itself pioneering the use of commercial paper for entrepreneurs and was invited to join the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 1896.

In the early 20th century, Goldman was a player in establishing the initial public offering (IPO) market. It managed one of the largest IPOs to date, that of Sears, Roebuck and Company in 1906. It also became one of the first companies to heavily recruit those withMBA degrees from leading business schools, a practice that still continues today.[citation needed]

On December 4, 1928, it launched the Goldman Sachs Trading Corp. a closed-end fund. The fund failed as a result of the Stock Market Crash of 1929, hurting the firm's reputation for several years afterward.[9] Of this case and others like Blue Ridge Corporation[10] and Shenandoah Corporation[11] John Kenneth Galbraith wrote: "The Autumn of 1929 was, perhaps, the first occasion when men succeeded on a large scale in swindling themselves."[12]

1930–1980[edit]

In 1930, Sidney Weinberg assumed the role of senior partner and shifted Goldman's focus away from trading and towards investment banking. It was Weinberg's actions that helped to restore some of Goldman's tarnished reputation. On the back of Weinberg, Goldman was lead advisor on the Ford Motor Company's IPO in 1956, which at the time was a major coup on Wall Street. Under Weinberg's reign the firm also started an investment research division and a municipal bond department. It also was at this time that the firm became an early innovator in risk arbitrage.

Gus Levy joined the firm in the 1950s as a securities trader, which started a trend at Goldman where there would be two powers generally vying for supremacy, one from investment banking and one from securities trading. For most of the 1950s and 1960s, this would be Weinberg and Levy. Levy was a pioneer in block trading and the firm established this trend under his guidance. Due to Weinberg's heavy influence at the firm, it formed an investment banking division in 1956 in an attempt to spread around influence and not focus it all on Weinberg.

In 1969, Levy took over as Senior Partner from Weinberg, and built Goldman's trading franchise once again. It is Levy who is credited with Goldman's famous philosophy of being "long-term greedy", which implied that as long as money is made over the long term, trading losses in the short term were not to be worried about. At the same time, partners reinvested almost all of their earnings in the firm, so the focus was always on the future.[13] That same year, Weinberg retired from the firm.

Another financial crisis for the firm occurred in 1970, when the Penn Central Transportation Company went bankrupt with over $80 million in commercial paper outstanding, most of it issued through Goldman Sachs. The bankruptcy was large, and the resulting lawsuits, notably by the SEC, threatened the partnership capital, life and reputation of the firm.[14] It was this bankruptcy that resulted in credit ratings being created for every issuer of commercial paper today by several credit rating services.[15]

During the 1970s, the firm also expanded in several ways. Under the direction of Senior Partner Stanley R. Miller, it opened its first international office in London in 1970, and created a private wealth division along with a fixed income division in 1972. It also pioneered the "white knight" strategy in 1974 during its attempts to defend Electric Storage Battery against a hostile takeover bid from International Nickel and Goldman's rival Morgan Stanley.[16] This action would boost the firm's reputation as an investment advisorbecause it pledged to no longer participate in hostile takeovers.

John L. Weinberg (the son of Sidney Weinberg), and John C. Whitehead assumed roles of co-senior partners in 1976, once again emphasizing the co-leadership at the firm. One of their initiatives[citation needed] was the establishment of 14 business principles that the firm still claims to apply.[17]

1980–1999[edit]

On November 16, 1981, the firm acquired J. Aron & Company, a commodities trading firm which merged with the Fixed Income division to become known as Fixed Income, Currencies, and Commodities. J. Aron was a player in the coffee and gold markets, and the current CEO of Goldman, Lloyd Blankfein, joined the firm as a result of this merger. In 1985 it underwrote the public offering of the real estate investment trust that owned Rockefeller Center, then the largest REIT offering in history. In accordance with the beginning of thedissolution of the Soviet Union, the firm also became involved in facilitating the global privatization movement by advising companies that were spinning off from their parent governments.

In 1986, the firm formed Goldman Sachs Asset Management, which manages the majority of its mutual funds and hedge funds today. In the same year, the firm also underwrote the IPO of Microsoft, advised General Electric on its acquisition of RCA and joined theLondon and Tokyo stock exchanges. 1986 also was the year when Goldman became the first United States bank to rank in the top 10 of mergers and acquisitions in the United Kingdom. During the 1980s the firm became the first bank to distribute its investment research electronically and created the first public offering of original issue deep-discount bond.

Robert Rubin and Stephen Friedman assumed the Co-Senior Partnership in 1990 and pledged to focus on globalization of the firm and strengthening the Merger & Acquisition and Trading business lines. During their reign, the firm introduced paperless trading to the New York Stock Exchange and lead-managed the first-ever global debt offering by a U.S. corporation. It also launched the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index (GSCI) and opened a Beijing office in 1994.

Also in 1994, Jon Corzine assumed leadership of the firm as CEO, following the departure of Rubin and Friedman.

Another momentous event in Goldman's history was the Mexican bailout of 1995. Rubin drew criticism in Congress for using a Treasury Department account under his personal control to distribute $20 billion to bail out Mexican bonds, of which Goldman was a key distributor.[18] On November 22, 1994, the Mexican Bolsa stock market had admitted Goldman Sachs and one other firm to operate on that market.[19] The 1994 economic crisis in Mexico threatened to wipe out the value of Mexico's bonds held by Goldman Sachs.

The firm joined David Rockefeller and partners in a 50–50 joint ownership of Rockefeller Center during 1994, but later sold the shares toTishman Speyer in 2000. In 1996, Goldman was lead underwriter of the Yahoo! IPO and in 1998 it was global coordinator of the NTT DoCoMo IPO.

In 1999, Henry Paulson took over as Senior Partner.

Since 1999[edit]

One of the largest events in the firm's history was its own IPO in 1999. The decision to go public was one that the partners debated for decades. In the end, Goldman decided to offer only a small portion of the company to the public, with some 48% still held by the partnership pool.[20] 22% of the company was held by non-partner employees, and 18% was held by retired Goldman partners and two longtime investors, Sumitomo Bank Ltd. and Hawaii's Kamehameha Activities Assn (the investing arm of Kamehameha Schools). This left approximately 12% of the company as being held by the public. With the firm's 1999 IPO, Paulson became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the firm. As of 2009, after further stock offerings to the public, Goldman is 67% owned by institutions (such as pension funds and other banks).[21]

In 1999, Goldman acquired Hull Trading Company, one of the world's premier market-making firms, for $531 million. More recently, the firm has been busy both in investment banking and in trading activities. It purchased Spear, Leeds, & Kellogg, one of the largest specialist firms on the New York Stock Exchange, for $6.3 billion in September 2000. It also advised on a debt offering for theGovernment of China and the first electronic offering for the World Bank. In 2003 it took a 45% stake in a joint venture with JBWere, the Australian investment bank. In 2009 The Private Wealth Management arm of JBWere was sold into a joint venture with National Australia Bank. Goldman opened a full-service broker-dealer in Brazil in 2007, after having set up an investment banking office in 1996. It expanded its investments in companies to include Burger King, McJunkin Corporation,[22] and in January 2007, Alliance Atlantisalongside CanWest Global Communications to own sole broadcast rights to the all three CSI series. The firm is also heavily involved in energy trading, including oil, on both a principal and agent basis.

In May 2006, Paulson left the firm to serve as U.S. Treasury Secretary, and Lloyd C. Blankfein was promoted to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Former Goldman employees have headed the New York Stock Exchange, the World Bank, the U.S. Treasury Department, the White House staff, and firms such as Citigroup and Merrill Lynch.

Actions in the 2007–2008 mortgage crisis[edit]

During the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis, Goldman was able to profit from the collapse in subprime mortgage bonds in the summer of 2007 by short-selling subprime mortgage-backed securities. Two Goldman traders, Michael Swenson and Josh Birnbaum, are credited with being responsibile for the firm's large profits during the crisis.[23][24] The pair, members of Goldman's structured products group in New York, made a profit of $4 billion by "betting" on a collapse in the sub-prime market, and shorting mortgage-related securities. By summer 2007, they persuaded colleagues to see their point of view and convinced skeptical risk management executives.[25] The firm initially avoided large subprime writedowns, and achieved a net profit due to significant losses on non-prime securitized loans being offset by gains on short mortgage positions. Its sizable profits made during the initial subprime mortgage crisis led the New York Timesto proclaim that Goldman Sachs is without peer in the world of finance.[26] The firm's viability was later called into question as the crisis intensified in September 2008.

On October 15, 2007, as the crisis had begun to unravel, Allan Sloan, a senior editor for Fortune magazine, said:[27]

So let's reduce this macro story to human scale. Meet GSAMP Trust 2006-S3, a $494 million drop in the junk-mortgage bucket, part of the more than half-a-trillion dollars of mortgage-backed securities issued last year. We found this issue by asking mortgage mavens to pick the worst deal they knew of that had been floated by a top-tier firm – and this one's pretty bad.


It was sold by Goldman Sachs – GSAMP originally stood for Goldman Sachs Alternative Mortgage Products but now has become a name itself, like AT&T and 3M.

This issue, which is backed by ultra-risky second-mortgage loans, contains all the elements that facilitated the housing bubble and bust. It's got speculators searching for quick gains in hot housing markets; it's got loans that seem to have been made with little or no serious analysis by lenders; and finally, it's got Wall Street, which churned out mortgage "product" because buyers wanted it. As they say on the Street, "When the ducks quack, feed them."

On September 21, 2008, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the last two major investment banks in the United States, both confirmed that they would become traditional bank holding companies, bringing an end to the era of investment banking on Wall Street.[28][29] The Federal Reserve's approval of their bid to become banks ended the ascendancy of the securities firms, 75 years after Congress separated them from deposit-taking lenders, and capped weeks of chaos that sent Lehman Brothers into bankruptcy and led to the rushed sale of Merrill Lynch & Co. to Bank of America Corp.[30][31]

According to a 2009 BrandAsset Valuator survey taken of 17,000 people nationwide, the firm's reputation suffered in 2008 and 2009, and rival Morgan Stanley was respected more than Goldman Sachs, a reversal of the sentiment in 2006. Goldman refused to comment on the findings.[32]

TARP and Berkshire Hathaway investment[edit]

On September 23, 2008, Berkshire Hathaway agreed to purchase $5 billion in Goldman's preferred stock, and also received warrants to buy another $5 billion in Goldman's common stock, exercisable for a five-year term.[33] Goldman also received a $10 billion preferred stock investment from the U.S. Treasury in October 2008, as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).[34]

Andrew Cuomo, then Attorney General of New York, questioned Goldman's decision to pay 953 employees bonuses of at least $1 million each after it received TARP funds in 2008.[35] That same period, however, CEO Lloyd Blankfein and six other senior executives opted to forgo bonuses, stating they believed it was the right thing to do, in light of "the fact that we are part of an industry that's directly associated with the ongoing economic distress".[36] Cuomo called the move "appropriate and prudent", and urged the executives of other banks to follow the firm's lead and refuse bonus payments.

In June 2009, Goldman Sachs repaid the U.S. Treasury's TARP investment, with 23% interest (in the form of $318 million in preferred dividend payments and $1.418 billion in warrant redemptions).[37] On March 18, 2011, Goldman Sachs acquired Federal Reserveapproval to buy back Berkshire's preferred stock in Goldman.[38] In December 2009, Goldman announced their top 30 executives will be paid year-end bonuses in restricted stock, with clawback provisions, that must go unsold for five years.[39][40]

Use of Federal Reserve's Emergency Liquidity Programs[edit]

During the 2008 Financial Crisis, the Federal Reserve introduced a number of short-term credit and liquidity facilities to help stabilize markets. Some of the transactions under these facilities provided liquidity to institutions whose disorderly failure could have severely stressed an already fragile financial system.[41]

Goldman Sachs was one of the heaviest users of these loan facilities, taking out numerous loans from March 18, 2008 – April 22, 2009. The Primary Dealer Credit Facility (PDCF), the first Fed facility ever to provide overnight loans to investment banks, loaned Goldman Sachs a total of $589 billion against collateral such as corporate market instruments and mortgage-backed securities.[42] The Term Securities Lending Facility (TSLF), which allows primary dealers to borrow liquid Treasury securities for one month in exchange for less liquid collateral, loaned Goldman Sachs a total of $193 billion.[43]

Goldman Sachs's borrowings totaled $782 billion in hundreds of transactions over these months.[44] This number is a total of all transactions over time and not the outstanding loan balance. The loans have been fully repaid in accordance with the terms of the facilities.[45][46]

Corporate affairs[edit]

Goldman Sachs Tower, at 30 Hudson Street, in Jersey City.

As of 2013, Goldman Sachs employed 31,700 people worldwide.[39] In 2013, the firm reported earnings of US$9.34 billion and record earnings per share of $160.66.[47] It was reported that the average total compensation per employee in 2006 was US$622,000.[48]Also, the average compensation paid by Goldman, Sachs & Co. to each employee in the first three months of 2013 was $135,594.[49] However, these numbers represent thearithmetic mean of total compensation and is highly skewed upwards as several hundred of the top recipients command the majority of the Bonus Pools, leaving the median that most employees receive well below this number.[50]

In Business Week's recent release of the Best Places to Launch a Career 2008, Goldman Sachs was ranked No.4 out of 119 total companies on the list.[51] The current Chief Executive Officer is Lloyd C. Blankfein. The company ranks No.1 in Annual Net Incomewhen compared with 86 peers in the Investment Services sector. Blankfein received a $67.9 million bonus in his first year. He chose to receive "some" cash unlike his predecessor, Paulson, who chose to take his bonus entirely in company stock.[52]

Investors have been complaining that the bank has near 11,000 more staffers than it did in 2005, but performances of workers were drastically in decline. In 2011, Goldman's 33,300 employees generated $28.8 billion in revenue and $2.5 billion in profit, but it represents a 25 percent decline in revenue per worker and a 71 percent decline in profit per worker compared with 2005. The staff cuts in its trading and investment banking divisions are possible as the company continues to reduce costs to raise profitability. In 2011, the company has cut 2,400 positions.[53]

On April 30, 2002, Goldman Sachs Group Inc was charged because extended the fraud-on-the-market doctrine of Basic Inc. v. Levinson, and one of analysts' misrepresentations affecting the market price of securities.,[54] and paid 12,500,000 dollars for settlement.

On July 15, 2003, Goldman Sachs & Co had a lawsuit for artificially inflating the RSL's stock price by issuing untrue or materially misleading statements in research analyst reports, and paid 3380000 dollars for settlement.

Goldman Sachs is divided into three businesses units: Investment Banking, Trading and Principal Investments, and Asset Management and Securities Services.[55]

Investment banking[edit]

Investment banking is divided into two divisions and includes Financial Advisory (mergers and acquisitions, investitures, corporate defense activities, restructuring and spin-offs) and Underwriting (public offerings and private placements of equity, equity-related and debt instruments). Goldman Sachs is one of the leading M&A advisory firms, often topping the league tables in terms of transaction size. The firm gained a reputation as a white knight in the mergers and acquisitions sector by advising clients on how to avoid hostile takeovers, moves generally viewed as unfriendly to shareholders of targeted companies. Goldman Sachs, for a long time during the 1980s, was the only major investment bank with a strict policy against helping to initiate a hostile takeover, which increased the firm's reputation immensely among sitting management teams at the time. The investment banking segment accounts for around 17 percent of Goldman Sachs' revenues.[56]

The firm has been involved in brokering deals to privatize major highways by selling them to foreign investors, in addition to advising state and local governments – including Indiana, Texas, and Chicago – on privatization projects.[57]

Trading and principal investments[edit]

Trading and Principal Investments is the largest of the three segments, and is the company's profit center.[58] The segment is divided into four divisions and includes Fixed Income (The trading of interest rate and credit products, mortgage-backed securitiesinsurance-linked securities and structured and derivative products), Currency and Commodities (The trading of currencies and commodities), Equities (The trading of equities, equity derivativesstructured productsoptions, and futures contracts), and Principal Investments (merchant banking investments and funds). This segment consists of the revenues and profit gained from the Bank's trading activities, both on behalf of its clients (known as flow trading) and for its own account (known as proprietary trading).

Most trading done by Goldman is not speculative, but rather an attempt to profit from bid-ask spreads in the process of acting as amarket maker.[citation needed] On average, around 68 percent of Goldman's revenues and profits are derived from trading.[58] Upon its IPO, Goldman predicted that this segment would not grow as fast as its Investment Banking division and would be responsible for a shrinking proportion of earnings. The opposite has been true however, resulting in now-CEO Blankfein's appointment to President and Chief Operating Officer after John Thain's departure to run the NYSE and John L. Thornton's departure for an academic position in China.

Distressed-debt investment[edit]

In June 2013, Goldman Sachs's Special Situations Group, the proprietary investment unit of the investment bank, purchased a US$863 million portion of Brisbane-based Suncorp Group Limited's loan portfolio.[59] The finance, insurance, and banking corporation is one of Australia's largest banks (by combined lending and deposits) and its largest general insurance group.[60] In 2013, distressed-debt investors, seeking investment opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly in Australia, acquired discounted bonds or bank loans of companies facing distressed debt, with the potential of profitable returns if the companies' performance or their debt-linked assets improves. In 2013, Australia was one of the biggest markets for distressed-debt investors in the region.[59]

Asset management and securities services[edit]

Goldman Sachs Headquarters, at 200 West Street, in Manhattan.

As the name suggests, the firm's Asset Management and Securities Services segment is divided into two components: Asset Management and Securities Services. The Asset Management division provides investment advisory and financial planning services and offers investment products (primarily through separately managed accounts and commingled vehicles) across all major asset classes to a diverse group of institutions and individuals worldwide.[61] The unit primarily generates revenues in the form of management and incentive fees. The Securities Services division provides clearing, financing, custody, securities lending, and reporting services to institutional clients, including hedge funds, mutual funds, and pension funds. The division generates revenues primarily in the form of interest rate spreads or fees.[61]

In 2009, the Goldman Sachs Asset Management hedge fund was the 9th largest in the United States, with $20.58 billion under management.[62] This was down from $32.5 billion in 2007, after client redemptions and weaker investment performance.[63][64]

On September 14, 2011, Goldman Sachs stated it was shutting down the Global Alpha fund, once the firm's largest hedge fund. The announcement followed a reported decline in fund balances to less than $1.7 billion in June 2011 from $11 billion in 2007. The decline was caused by investors withdrawing from the fund following earlier substantial market losses. The firm said it expected most of the fund assets to be liquidated by mid-October 2011.[65]

In September 2013, Goldman Sachs Asset Management announced it had entered into an agreement with Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management to acquire its stable value business, with total assets under supervision of $21.6 billion as of June 30, 2013.[66]

GS Capital Partners[edit]

GS Capital Partners is the private equity arm of Goldman Sachs. It has invested over $17 billion in the 20 years from 1986 to 2006. One of the most prominent funds is the GS Capital Partners V fund, which comprises over $8.5 billion of equity.[67] On April 23, 2007, Goldman closed GS Capital Partners VI with $20 billion in committed capital, $11 billion from qualified institutional and high net worth clients and $9 billion from the firm and its employees. GS Capital Partners VI is the current primary investment vehicle for Goldman Sachs to make large, privately negotiated equity investments.[68]

Major private equity assets[edit]

Predictions regarding emerging markets[edit]

In December 2005, four years after its report on the emerging "BRIC" economies (Brazil, Russia, India, and China), Goldman Sachs named its "Next Eleven"[70] list of countries, using macroeconomic stability, political maturity, openness of trade and investment policies and quality of education as criteria: BangladeshEgyptIndonesiaIranMexicoNigeriaPakistan, the PhilippinesTurkey,South Korea and Vietnam.[71]

Corporate citizenship[edit]

Goldman Sachs has received favorable press coverage for conducting business and implementing internal policies related to reversing global climate change.[72] According to the company website, the Goldman Sachs Foundation has given $114 million in grants since 1999, with the goal of promoting youth education worldwide.[73]

The company also has been on Fortune Magazine's 100 Best Companies to Work For list since the list was launched in 1998, with emphasis placed on its support for employee philanthropic efforts.[74] The 2013 list cited the reason that the reported average annual compensation for an employee was more than $300,000.[75] In November 2007, Goldman Sachs established a donor advised fundcalled Goldman Sachs Gives that donates to charitable organizations around the world, while increasing their maximum employee donation match to $20,000.[76] The firm's Community TeamWorks is an annual, global volunteering initiative that in 2007 gave over 20,000 Goldman employees a day off work from May through August to volunteer in a team-based project organized with a local nonprofit organization.[77]

In March 2008, Goldman launched the 10,000 Women initiative to train 10,000 women from predominantly developing countries in business and management.[78]

In November 2009, Goldman pledged $500 million to aid small businesses in their newly created 10,000 Small Businesses initiative. The initiative aims to provide 10,000 small businesses with assistance – ranging from business and management education and mentoring to lending and philanthropic support. The networking will be offered through partnerships with national and local business organizations, as well as employees of Goldman Sachs.[79] In addition to Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein, Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett and Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter will chair the program's advisory council.[78]

Goldman Sachs employees have been noted as highly loyal to their organization.[77][80]

Regulatory bodies[edit]

Large American and European banks, including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank are part in the Washington D.C.-based Institute of International Finance. They argued against Basel III claiming it would hurt them and economic growth. The OECDestimated that implementation of Basel III would decrease annual GDP growth by 0.05–0.15%,[81][82] blaming regulation as responsible for slow recovery from the late-2000s financial crisis.[81][83] Basel III was also criticized as negatively affecting the stability of the financial system by increasing incentives of banks to game the regulatory framework.[84] The American Banker's Association,[85]community banks organized in the Independent Community Bankers of America, and some of the most liberal Democrats in the U.S. Congress, including the entire Maryland congressional delegation with Democratic Sens. Cardin and Mikulski and Reps. Van Hollen and Cummings, voiced opposition to Basel III in their comments submitted to FDIC,[86] saying that the Basel III proposals, if implemented, would hurt small banks by increasing "their capital holdings dramatically on mortgage and small business loans."[87]Others have argued that Basel III did not go far enough to regulate banks as inadequate regulation was a cause of the financial crisis.[88] On January 6, 2013 the global banking sector won a significant easing of Basel III Rules, when the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision extended not only the implementation schedule to 2019, but broadened the definition of liquid assets.[89]

Tax Rate[edit]

Goldman Sachs expected in December 2008 to pay $14 million in taxes worldwide for 2008 compared with $6 billion the previous year, after making $2.3 billion profit and paying $10.9 billion in employee pay and benefits. The company's effective tax rate dropped to 1% from 34.1% in 2007, due to tax credits and, according to Goldman Sachs, "changes in geographic earnings mix" thus reducing the company's tax obligation.[90][91] Many critics argue that the reduction in Goldman Sach's tax rate was achieved by shifting its earnings to subsidiaries in low- or no-tax nations. Goldman Sachs had 28 such subsidiaries at the time, including 15 in the Cayman Islands.[92]

Controversies[edit]

Involvement in the European sovereign debt crisis[edit]

Goldman is being criticized for its involvement in the 2010 European sovereign debt crisis. Goldman Sachs is reported to have systematically helped the Greek government mask the true facts concerning its national debt between the years 1998 and 2009.[93] In September 2009, Goldman Sachs, among others, created a special credit default swap (CDS) index to cover the high risk of Greece's national debt.[94] The interest-rates of Greek national bonds have soared to a very high level, leading the Greek economy very close to bankruptcy in March and May 2010 and again in June 2011.[95] Lucas Papademos, Greece's former prime minister, ran the Central Bank of Greece at the time of the controversial derivates deals with Goldman Sachs that enabled Greece to hide the size of its debt.[96]Petros Christodoulou, General Manager of the Public Debt Management Agency of Greece is a former employee of Goldman Sachs.[96]Mario Monti, Italy's former prime minister and finance minister, who headed the new government that took over after Berlusconi's resignation, is an international adviser to Goldman Sachs.[96] So is Otmar Issing, former board member of the Bundesbank and the Executive Board of the European Bank.[96] Mario Draghi, the new head of the European Central Bank, is the former managing director of Goldman Sachs International.[96] António Borges, Head of the European Department of the International Monetary Fund in 2010-2011 and responsible for most of enterprise privatizations in Portugal since 2011, is the former Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs International.[96] Carlos Moedas, a former Goldman Sachs employee, is the current Secretary of State to the Prime Minister of Portugaland Director of ESAME, the agency created to monitor and control the implementation of the structural reforms agreed by the governent of Portugal and the troika composed of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.Peter Sutherland, former Attorney General of Ireland is a non-executive director of Goldman Sachs International. These ties between Goldman Sachs and European leaders are an ongoing source of controversy.[96]

Greg Smith resignation letter[edit]

In his March 2012 resignation letter, printed as an op-ed in The New York Times, the former head of Goldman Sachs US equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) attacked the company's CEO and president for losing the company's culture, which he described as "the secret sauce that made this place great and allowed us to earn our clients' trust for 143 years". Smith said that advising clients "to do what I believe is right for them" was becoming increasingly unpopular. Instead there was a "toxic and destructive" environment in which "the interests of the client continue to be sidelined", senior management described clients as "muppets" and colleagues callously talked about "ripping their clients off".[97][98] In reply, Goldman Sachs said that "we will only be successful if our clients are successful", claiming "this fundamental truth lies at the heart of how we conduct ourselves" and that "we don't think [Smith's comments] reflect the way we run our business."[99] Later that year, Smith published a book titled Why I left Goldman Sachs.[100]

California bonds[edit]

On November 11, 2008, the Los Angeles Times reported that Goldman Sachs, which earned $25M from underwriting California bonds, had advised other clients to short those bonds.[101] While some journalists criticized the contradictory actions,[102] others pointed out that the opposite investment decisions undertaken by the underwriting side and the trading side of the bank were normal and in line with regulations regarding Chinese walls, and in fact critics had demanded increased independence between underwriting and trading.[103]

Russian consulting agreement[edit]

Goldman Sachs came under criticism for entering in a consulting agreement with Vladimir Putin's Russian government to "attract foreign investment". Human Rights Foundation Chairman Garry Kasparov commented on the agreement, saying, "Goldman Sachs's deal with Putin ranks among the worst examples ever of a company seeking to bolster its profits by laundering the financial reputation of a country led by a corruptly elected despot."[104][105] Goldman Sachs signed a three year agreement with the Russian direct investment fund and Russia's economy ministry.[106]

Personnel "revolving-door" with U.S. government[edit]

During 2008 Goldman Sachs received criticism for an apparent revolving door relationship, in which its employees and consultants have moved in and out of high level U.S. Government positions, creating the potential for conflicts of interest. Former Treasury Secretary Paulson was a former CEO of Goldman Sachs. Additional controversy attended the selection of former Goldman Sachs lobbyist Mark Patterson as chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, despite President Barack Obama's campaign promise that he would limit the influence of lobbyists in his administration.[107] In February 2011, the Washington Examiner reported that Goldman Sachs was "the company from which Obama raised the most money in 2008" and that its "CEO Lloyd Blankfein has visited the White House 10 times."[108]

Insider trading cases[edit]

In 1986, David Brown was convicted of passing inside information to Ivan Boesky on a takeover deal.[109] Robert Freeman, who was a senior Partner, who was the Head of Risk Arbitrage, and who was a protégé of Robert Rubin, was also convicted of insider trading, for his own account and for the firm's account.[110]

In April 2010, Goldman director Rajat Gupta was named in an insider-trading case. It was said Gupta had "tipped off a hedge-fund billionaire", Raj Rajaratnam of Galleon Group, about the $5 billion Berkshire Hathaway investment in Goldman in September, 2008. According to the report, Gupta had told Goldman the month before his involvement became public that he wouldn't seek re-election as a director.[111] In early 2011, with the delayed Rajaratnam criminal trial about to begin,[112] the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced civil charges against Gupta covering the Berkshire investment as well as confidential quarterly earnings information from Goldman and Procter & Gamble (P&G). Gupta was board member at P&G until voluntarily resigning the day of the SEC announcement, after the charges were announced. "Gupta was an investor in some of the Galleon hedge funds when he passed the information along, and he had other business interests with Rajaratnam that were potentially lucrative.... Rajaratnam used the information from Gupta to illegally profit in hedge fund trades.... The information on Goldman made Rajaratnam's funds $17 million richer.... The Proctor & Gamble data created illegal profits of more than $570,000 for Galleon funds managed by others, the SEC said." Gupta was said to have "vigorously denied the SEC accusations". He is also a board member of AMR Corp..[113]

Gupta was convicted in June 2012 on insider trading charges stemming from Galleon Group case on four criminal felony counts ofconspiracy and securities fraud. He was sentenced in October 2012 to two years in prison, an additional year on supervised release and ordered to pay $5 million in fines.[114]

First Quarter 2009 and December 2008 financial results[edit]

In April 2009, there was controversy that Goldman Sachs had "puffed up" its Q1 earnings by creating a December "orphan month" into which it shifted large writedowns.[115] In its first full quarter as a bank holding company, the firm reported a $780M net loss for the single month of December alongside Q1 net earnings of $1.81B (Jan–Mar)[116][117]

The accounting change to a calendar fiscal year, which created the stub month, was required when the firm converted to a bank holding company and declared in Item 5.03 of its Form 8-K U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing of December 15, 2008.[118]The December loss also included a $850M writedown on loans to bankrupt chemical maker LyondellBasell, as reported in late December (the chemical maker formally declared bankruptcy on January 6 but the loan would have been marked-to-market – it became clear in mid/late-December that Lyondell would not be able to meet its debt obligations).[119][120]

Most financial analysts and the mainstream financial press (Bloomberg L.P.Reuters, etc), aware of the accounting change and deteriorating market conditions into December, were unsurprised by the December loss (Merrill Lynch took at least $8.1B of losses in the same period).[121] However, their lack of reaction and reporting of what was a widely expected result may have contributed to the surprise attributing this as a sign that the firm was trying to hide losses in December. On the contrary, the results of December 2008 were discussed up front and in detail by CFO David Viniar in the first few minutes of the firm's Q1 2009 conference call, and were fully declared on page 10 of its earnings release document.[116][122]

On April 22, 2009, Morgan Stanley also reported[123] a $1.3B net loss for the single month of December, alongside a $177M loss for the first quarter (Jan–Mar).[124] However, whereas Goldman Sachs' first-quarter earnings (Jan–Mar) were well-above forecasts[125] (which led to the speculation that the firm may have 'conveniently' shifted losses into December), Morgan Stanley's results for the same Jan–Mar period were below consensus estimates.[126] This, in addition to Morgan Stanley's losses in December, would appear to support Goldman's rejection of the notion that they deliberately shifted losses into December.[117] Like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley converted to a bank holding company after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September 2008.

At the end of 2009, the firm was on track to complete its most profitable year since its founding.[40][127]

Involvement with the bailout of AIG[edit]

American International Group (AIG) was bailed out by the US government in September 2008 after suffering a liquidity crisis, whereby the Federal Reserve initially lent $85 billion to AIG to allow the firm to meet its collateral and cash obligations.

In March 2009, it was reported that, in 2008, Goldman Sachs, alongside other major US and international financial institutions, had received billions of dollars during the unwind of credit default swap (CDS) contracts purchased from AIG, including $12.9 billion from funds provided by the US Federal Reserve to bail out AIG.[128][129][130] (As of April, 2009, US Government loans to AIG totaled over $180 billion). The money was used to repay customers of its security-lending program and was paid as collateral to counterparties under credit insurance contracts purchased from AIG. However, due to the size and nature of the payouts there was considerable controversy in the media and amongst some politicians as to whether banks, including Goldman Sachs, may have benefited materially from the bailout and if they had been overpaid.[131][132] The New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced in March 2009 that he was investigating whether AIG's trading counterparties improperly received government money.[133]

Firm's response to criticism of AIG payments[edit]

Goldman Sachs has maintained that its net exposure to AIG was 'not material', and that the firm was protected by hedges (in the form of CDSs with other counterparties) and $7.5 billion of collateral.[134] The firm stated the cost of these hedges to be over $100M.[135]According to Goldman, both the collateral and CDSs would have protected the bank from incurring an economic loss in the event of an AIG bankruptcy (however, because AIG was bailed out and not allowed to fail, these hedges did not pay out.)[136] CFO David Viniarstated that profits related to AIG in Q1 2009 "rounded to zero", and profits in December were not significant. He went on to say that he was "mystified" by the interest the government and investors have shown in the bank's trading relationship with AIG.[137]

Considerable speculation remains that Goldman's hedges against their AIG exposure would not have paid out if AIG was allowed to fail. According to a report by the United States Office of the Inspector General of TARP, if AIG had collapsed, it would have made it difficult for Goldman to liquidate its trading positions with AIG, even at discounts, and it also would have put pressure on other counterparties that "might have made it difficult for Goldman Sachs to collect on the credit protection it had purchased against an AIG default."[138]Finally, the report said, an AIG default would have forced Goldman Sachs to bear the risk of declines in the value of billions of dollars in collateral debt obligations.

Goldman argues that CDSs are marked to market (i.e. valued at their current market price) and their positions netted between counterparties daily. Thus, as the cost of insuring AIG's obligations against default rose substantially in the lead-up to its bailout, the sellers of the CDS contracts had to post more collateral to Goldman Sachs. The firm claims this meant its hedges were effective and the firm would have been protected against an AIG bankruptcy and the risk of knock-on defaults, had AIG been allowed to fail.[135]However, in practice, the collateral would not protect fully against losses both because protection sellers would not be required to post collateral that covered the complete loss during a bankruptcy and because the value of the collateral would be highly uncertain following the repercussions of an AIG bankruptcy.[citation needed] As with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, wider and longer-term systemic and economic turmoil brought on by an AIG default would probably have affected the firm and all other market participants.[citation needed]

Final AIG meetings on September 15 at the New York Federal Reserve[edit]

Some have said, incorrectly according to others,[139] that Goldman Sachs received preferential treatment from the government by being the only Wall Street firm to have participated in the crucial September meetings at the New York Fed, which decided AIG's fate. Much of this has stemmed from an inaccurate but often quoted New York Times article.[140] The article was later corrected to state that Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs, was "one of the Wall Street chief executives at the meeting" (emphasis added). Bloomberg has also reported that representatives from other firms were indeed present at the September AIG meetings.[141] Furthermore, Goldman Sachs CFO David Viniar has stated that CEO Blankfein had never "met" with his predecessor and then-US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to discuss AIG;[142] However, there were frequent phone calls between the two of them.[143] Paulson was not present at the September meetings at the New York Fed. It is also a lesser known fact that Morgan Stanley was hired by the Federal Reserve to advise them on the AIG bailout.[144]

According to the New York Times, Paulson spoke with the CEO of Goldman Sachs two dozen times during the week of the bailout, though he obtained an ethics waiver before doing so.[145] While it is common for regulators to be in contact with market participants to gather valuable industry intelligence, particularly in a crisis, the Times noted he spoke with Goldman's Blankfein more frequently than with other large banks. Federal officials say that although Paulson was involved in decisions to rescue A.I.G, it was the Federal Reservethat played the lead role in shaping and financing the A.I.G. bailout.[145]

Former New York Fed Chairman's ties to the firm[edit]

Stephen Friedman, a former director of Goldman Sachs, was named Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in January 2008. Although he had retired from Goldman in 1994, Friedman continued to own stock in the firm. Goldman's conversion from a securities firm to a bank holding company in September 2008 meant it was now regulated by the Fed and not the SEC. When it became apparent that Timothy Geithner, then president of the New York Fed, would leave his role there to become Treasury Secretary, Friedman was granted a temporary one-year waiver of a rule that forbids "class C" directors of the Fed from direct interest with those it regulates. Friedman agreed to remain on the board until the end of 2009 to provide continuity in the wake of the turmoil caused by Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy. Had the waiver not been granted, the New York Fed would have lost both its president and its chairman (or Friedman would have had to divest his Goldman shares).[146] This would have been highly disruptive for the New York Fed's role in the capital markets, and Friedman later said he agreed to stay on the NY Fed board out of a sense of public duty, but that his decision was "being mischaracterised as improper".[147]

Media reports in May 2009 concerning Friedman's involvement with Goldman, and in particular, his purchase of the firm's stock when it traded at historical lows in the fourth quarter of 2008,[146] fueled controversy and criticism over what was seen as a conflict of interest in Friedman's new role as supervisor and regulator to Goldman Sachs. These events prompted his resignation on May 7, 2009. Although Friedman's purchases of Goldman stock did not violate any Fed rule, statute, or policy, he said that the Fed did not need this distraction. He also stated his purchases, made while approval of a waiver was pending, were motivated by a desire to demonstrate confidence in the company during a time of market distress.[148]

$60 million settlement for Massachusetts subprime mortgages[edit]

On May 10, 2009, the Goldman Sachs Group agreed to pay up to $60 million to end an investigation by the Massachusetts attorney general's office into whether the firm helped promote unfair home loans in the state. The settlement will be used to reduce the mortgage payments of 714 Massachusetts residents who had secured subprime mortgages funded by Goldman Sachs. Michael DuVally, a spokesman for Goldman, said it was "pleased to have resolved this matter," and declined to comment further. This settlement may open the door to state government actions against Goldman throughout the United States aimed at securing compensation for predatory mortgage lending practices.[149]

Abacus mortgage-backed CDOs[edit]

According to a New York Times (Morgenson 2009)[150] article Goldman Sachs's trader Jonathan M. Egol created Abacus mortgage-backed CDOs, collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), beginning in 2004, with housing prices soaring during the period of "mortgage mania." Goldman Sachs sold Abacus mortgage-backed CDOs to investors, and then bet short against them.(Morgenson 2009)[150]According to Bloomberg, with a total value of $10.9 billion, Goldman Sachs did 25 Abacus deals from 2004–2008. A Goldman worker named Tetsuya Ishikawa was involved in these deals and later wrote a novel called How I Caused the Credit Crunch. The article claims Goldman tried to pressure Moody's to rate its products higher than they should have been.

The article also claimed that many mortgage backed CDOs (Abacus, and others) sold by Goldman performed very poorly. It uses the example of the Hudson Mezzanine CDO, which Goldman bet against, but also sold to investors. It also claims that various rules regarding CDO-default pay outs were modified to favor short sellers in 2005.

Goldman claimed that it was simply hedging, not expecting the CDOs to fail. It also said that its investors knew it was betting against the products it was selling to them.[150]

Goldman and one of its traders, Fabrice Tourre, were later sued by the SEC over circumstances surrounding one of these CDOs, Abacus 2007-AC1. (See below in this article) In late 2010 Tourre asked for dismissal of the suit against him based on the repercussions of the Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd Supreme Court case, claiming his deals were outside the US and thus not subject to certain US laws.[151][152][153] On 30 July 2013, closing arguments were made after about two weeks of testimony ended with the defense team not calling any witnesses.[154] On August 1, 2013, a nine-person jury reached the decision that Tourre misled investors about the mortgage deal. Of seven charges facing Tourre, he was found liable on six.[155]

On 17 January 2006, CDS Indexco and Markit launched ABX.HE, a subprime mortgage backed credit derivative index with home equity loans as assets, with plans to extend the index to other underlying assets, such as Credit Cards (ABX.CC), Student Loans (ABX.SL) and Auto Loans (ABX.AU).[156] In a marketing presentation(2006 Wiley) CDS IndexCo was described as the owner of the DJ CDX family of credit default swap (CDS) indices formed from a merger of the major CDS indices (iBoxx and Trac-X) in April 2004. It introduced a "second generation product such as index tranches and index options."(Wiley 2006)[157] They launched the Home Equity (ABX.HE) ABX on 19 January 2006. Advertised daily prices were availability on the Markit website. The purpose of the indices is to allow investors to trade exposures to the subprime market without holding the actual asset backed securities. The ABX.HE Index was created from "qualifying deals of 20 of the largest sub-prime home equity ABS shelf programs from the six month period preceding the roll."(Wiley & 2006 11) The market makers of ABX.HE were listed as Goldman Sachs, JPMorganDeutsche BankBarclays CapitalBank of AmericaBNP ParibasCitigroupCredit SuisseLehman BrothersMerrill Lynch, [RBS Greenwich, UBS and Wachovia.(Wiley & 2006 13)

These investment firms had "anticipated the crisis. In 2006, Wall Street had introduced a new index, called the ABX, that became a way to invest in the direction of mortgage securities. The index allowed traders to bet on or against pools of mortgages with different risk characteristics, just as stock indexes enable traders to bet on whether the overall stock market, or technology stocks or bank stocks, will go up or down."(Morgenson 2009)[150]

On 14 November 2007, Markit Markit acquired International Index Company and agreed to acquire CDS IndexCo.[158]

According to a (Morgenson 2009New York Times article, Goldman Sachs used an ABX index to bet against (i.e. short) the housing market in 2006. It also "began marketing short bets using the ABX index to hedge funds like Paulson & CompanyMagnetar, and Soros Fund Management."(Morgenson 2009)[150]

See also: Merrill Lynch:CDO controversiesMagnetar Capital

Goldman Sachs Commodity Index and the 2005–2008 Food Bubble[edit]

Goldman Sachs' creation of the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index has been implicated by some in the 2007–2008 world food price crisis.

In a 2010 article in Harper's magazine, Frederick Kaufman argued that Goldman's creation of the commodity index helped passive investors (pension funds, mutual funds and others) enter the markets, which disturbed the normal relationship between supply and demand and price levels. He argues that the result was a 'contango' wheat market on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which caused prices of wheat to rise much higher than normal, defeating the purpose of the exchanges (price stabilization) in the first place.[159][160][161]

In a June 2010 article, The Economist defends Goldman Sachs by arguing that index-tracking funds (of which Goldman Sachs Commodity Index was one) did not directly cause the bubble. It describes a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development pointing out that commodities without futures markets also saw price rises during the period.[162]

See also 2000s commodities boom for a discussion on specific causes of the 2000s commodities boom.

SEC civil fraud lawsuit, filed in April 2010[edit]

On April 16, 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it was suing Goldman Sachs and one of its employees, Fabrice Tourre.[163] The SEC alleged that Goldman materially misstated and omitted facts in disclosure documents about a complex financial security it originated, a synthetic CDO called Abacus 2007-AC1.[163] Goldman was paid a fee of approximately $15 million for its work in the deal. The allegations are that Goldman misrepresented to investors that the independent selection agent, ACA, had reviewed the mortgage package underlying the credit default obligations, and that Goldman failed to disclose to ACA that a hedge fund that sought to short the package, Paulson & Co., had helped select underlying mortgages for the package against which it planned to bet.[164] The SEC further alleged that "Tourre also misled ACA into believing ..., that Paulson's interests in the collateral section [sic] process were aligned with ACA's when in reality Paulson's interests were sharply conflicting."[164] Goldman Sachs stated that the firm never represented to ACA that Paulson was to be this sort of investor, and that as normal business practice, market makers do not disclose the identities of a buyer to a seller and vice versa.[165]

The complaint states that Paulson made a $1 billion profit from the short investments, while purchasers of the materials lost the same amount. The two main investors who lost money were ABN Amro and IKB Deutsche Industriebank.[164] IKB lost $150 million within months on the purchase.[164] ABN Amro lost $841 million.[164] Goldman stated the firm also lost $90 million and did not structure a portfolio that was designed to lose money.[165] After the SEC announced the suit during the April 16, 2010 trading day, Goldman's Sachs's stock fell 13% to close at 160.70 from 184.27 on volume of over 102 million shares (vs. a 52 week average of 13 million shares). The firm's shares lost $10 billion in market value during the trading session.[166] On April 30, 2010, shares tumbled further on news that the Manhattan office of the US Attorney General launched a criminal probe into Goldman Sachs, sending the stock down nearly ten percent to $145.[167]

Goldman issued a statement on the same day the suit was filed, saying the SEC's charges were "unfounded in law and fact" and giving specific reasons as to why. The firm stated it had provided extensive disclosure to the long investors in the CDO, that the firm also lost money, that ACA selected the portfolio without the firm suggesting Paulson was to be a long investor, and that ACA was itself the largest purchaser of the Abacus pool, investing $951 million. Goldman also stated that any investor losses resulted from the overall negative performance of the entire sector, rather than from a particular security in the CDO.[165][168][169] Goldman issued an additional public comment in response to the suit on April 19, 2010, raising additional points.[170] While some have called these statements misleading,[171] others believe Goldman has a strong defense[171][172][173] or that the SEC has a weak case.[174]

Experts on securities law contacted by The Wall Street Journal believed the success or failure of the suit would depend on whether the facts not disclosed by Goldman were material. Some, such as Duke University law professor James Cox, believed the suit had merit. Cox opined that Goldman was aware of the relevance of Paulson's involvement and took steps to downplay it. Others, including Wayne State University law professor Peter Henning, noted that the major purchasers were sophisticated investors capable of accurately assessing the risks involved, even without knowledge of the part played by Paulson.[175]

On July 15, 2010, Goldman agreed to pay $550 million – $300 million to the U.S. government and $250 million to investors – in a settlement with the SEC. The company did not admit or deny wrongdoing. The company also agreed to change some of its business practices regarding mortgage investments, including the way it designs marketing materials. The SEC called the fine the largest commission penalty for a Wall Street firm. The settlement does not cover Tourre.[176]

On April 14, 2011, the United States Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a 635-page report entitled, Wall Street and the Financial Crisis: Anatomy of a Financial Collapse which described some of the causes of the financial crisis. The report alleged that Goldman Sachs may have misled investors and profited from the collapse of the mortgage market at their expense.[177] The Chairman of the Subcommittee referred the report to the Department of Justice for further investigation.[178]

On June 2, 2011, following an "exploratory" meeting with the Manhattan district attorney, Goldman was subpoenaed for relevant information.[179] Goldman is expected to accept a deferred-prosecution agreement if charges are filed.[180]

It was announced on August 9, 2012, the United States Department Of Justice decided not to file charges against Goldman Sachs over a $1.3 billion subprime mortgage portfolio.[181]

Sale of Dragon Systems to Lernout & Hauspie[edit]

In 2000, Goldman Sachs advised Dragon Systems on its sale to the Belgian company, Lernout & Hauspie. L&H later collapsed due to accounting fraud. Jim and Janet Baker, founders and together 50% owners of Dragon, filed a lawsuit against Goldman Sachs, alleging that the firm did not warn Dragon or the Bakers of the accounting problems of the acquirer, and that this led to the loss of their portion of the sale price of $580 million, which was paid entirely in the form of the acquirer's stock. On January 23, 2013 a federal jury rejected the Bakers' claims and found Goldman Sachs not liable to the Bakers for negligence, intentional and negligent misrepresentation, and breach of fiduciary duty.[182]

Initial public offering kickback bribes[edit]

Documents under seal in a decade-long lawsuit concerning eToys.com's initial public offering (IPO) but released accidentally to the New York Times show that IPOs managed by Goldman Sachs often involved asking for kickback bribes from their underwriting clients who made large profits flipping stocks which Goldman had intentionally undervalued. The clients willingly complied with these demands because they understood it was necessary in order to participate in further such undervalued IPOs.[183] Companies going public and their initial consumer stockholders are both defrauded by this practice.[184]

Taylor-related civil and criminal cases[edit]

Fraud related to trading losses and concealment of futures positions in 2007 resulted in $1.5 million in penalties paid by the firm to regulators in 2012. The penalties were for not properly supervising trader Matthew Marshall Taylor. Taylor himself was expected to plead guilty to criminal charges when he surrendered to the FBI in 2013.[185][186]

List of officers and directors[edit]

As of June 3, 2012[187]

NameNationality Current PositionSince Total Annual CompensationLong-Term Incentive Plans All OtherFiscal Year Total OptionsValue of Options
Lloyd C. Blankfein United States Chairman of the Board & CEO2006 $600,000$235,943$1,113,771 837,127$63,215,422
David A. Viniar* United States CFO & Executive Vice President 1999$600,000 $222,492$1,100,320506,445$34,942,903
Gary D. Cohn United States President, COO &Director 2006$600,000 $163,841$3,661,729828,259$61,033,100
John S. Weinberg United States Vice Chairman2006$600,000$ 79,736$26,002,896430,905 $30,624,806
J. Michael Evans Canada Vice Chairman & Chairman of Goldman Sachs, Asia2008 $600,000$2,250,850$5,308,735
Michael Sherwood United Kingdom Vice Chairman, Co-CEO – International2008
Alan Cohen United States Executive Vice President, Global Head – Compliance2004
Gregory Palm United States Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Co-Head – Legal Department 1999
John F.W. Rogers United States Executive Vice President, Chief of Staff and Secretary to the Board2001
Edith W. Cooper United States Executive Vice President and Global Head of Human Capital Management2008
M. Michele Burns United States Director2011
Claes Dahlbäck Sweden Director2003
Stephen Friedman United States Director2005
William W. George United States Director2002
James A. Johnson United States Director1999
Lakshmi N. Mittal India Director2008
James J. Schiro United States Director2009
Debora Spar Director2011
*Transition a/o January 2013: Viniar, 57, will retire and be replaced by Harvey M. Schwartz from the sales and trading unit. Viniar will join the board of directors when he retires. Schwartz, 48, "will assume oversight of operations, technology and finance as well as co-head of the firm-wide risk committee, the company said. Schwartz has worked at Goldman Sachs since 1997".[188]

Headquarters and other major offices[edit]

Goldman Sachs' global headquarters is located in New York City at 200 West St.

Its European headquarters are in London and its Asian headquarters(formerly located in Japan) are based in Hong Kong.[189][190] The largest other non-headquarters major offices worldwide are in TokyoBangaloreSalt Lake City,Singapore and Houston.[191]

Goldman Sachs research papers[edit]

Here is a list of notable Goldman Sachs research papers:

  • Global Economics Paper No: 93 (South Africa Growth and Unemployment: A Ten-Year Outlook): Makes economic projections for South Africa for the next 10 years. Published on May 13, 2003.
  • Global Economics Paper No: 99 (Dreaming With BRICs: The Path to 2050): Introduced the BRIC concept, which became highly popularized in the media and in economic research from this point on. Also made economic projections for 2050 for the G7 and South Africa as well. These were the first long-term economic projections which covered the GDP of numerous countries. Published on October 1, 2003.[192]
  • Global Economics Paper No: 134 (How Solid are the BRICs): Introduced the Next Elevenconcept. Published on December 1, 2005.[193]
  • Global Economics Paper No: 173 (New EU Member States—A Fifth BRIC?): Makes 2050 economic projections for the new EU member states as a whole. Published on September 26, 2008.[194]
  • Global Economics Paper No: 188 (A United Korea; Reassessing North Korea Risks (Part I): Makes 2050 economic projections for North Korea in the hypothetical event that North Korea makes large free-market reforms right now. Published on September 21, 2009.[195]
  • The Olympics and Economics 2012: Makes projections for the number of gold medals and told Olympic medals that each country wins at the 2012 Olympics using economic data and previous Olympic data. Published in 2012.[196]

Alumni[edit]

Former employees of Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. not mentioned elsewhere in this article:

References[edit]

Notes
  1. Jump up^ Page 51
  2. Jump up to:a b c d e "2012 annual results". The Goldman Sachs Group, inc. and subsidiaries.
  3. Jump up^ "Goldman Named 'The Most Prestigious European Bank' by Vault.com".
  4. Jump up^ "Goldman Number 1 in Prestige Rankings by Vault.com".
  5. Jump up^ "History and Growth". Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. Retrieved March 10, 2010.
  6. Jump up^ Spiro, Leah Nathans; Reed, Stanley (December 22, 1997)."Inside the Money Machine–In a big-is-all business, Goldman vows to go it alone"BusinessWeek (The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.). Retrieved January 17, 2007.
  7. Jump up^ Monday, Nov. 09, 1936 (1936-11-09). "Business & Finance: Cash & Comeback". Time.com. Archived from the originalon 2009-06-27. Retrieved September 12, 2013.
  8. Jump up^ Endlich, Lisa (1999). Goldman Sachs: The Culture Of Success. New York: A.A. Knopf. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-679-45080-1.
  9. Jump up^ Fox, Justin (May 16, 2005). "Goldman: We Run Wall Street".Fortune magazine (Cable News Network LP, LLLP. A Time Warner Company). Retrieved January 17, 2007.
  10. Jump up^ Monday, Dec. 16, 1929 (December 16, 1929). "Business & Finance: First Aid"Time. Retrieved November 24, 2009.
  11. Jump up^ Monday, Jun. 9, 1930 (June 9, 1930). "Business & Finance: Insignificant"Time. Retrieved November 24, 2009.
  12. Jump up^ The great crash, 1929 – Google Libri. Books.google.it. April 2, 1997. ISBN 978-0-395-85999-5. Retrieved November 24, 2009.
  13. Jump up^ Endlich, Lisa (1999). Goldman Sachs: The Culture Of Success. New York: A.A. Knopf. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-679-45080-1.
  14. Jump up^ Cohan, William D. (March 16, 2012). "Goldman Sachs's long history of duping its clients"The Washington Post. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
  15. Jump up^ Hahn, Thomas K. "Commercial Paper". In Timothy Q. Cook and Robert K. Laroche editors. Instruments of the Money Market (Seventh ed.). Richmond, Virginia: Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Retrieved January 17, 2007.
  16. Jump up^ Rosenkrantz, Holly; Newton-Small, Jay (November 23, 2004)."Bush Economic Adviser Friedman to Resign, Aide Says". Bloomberg. Retrieved January 17, 2007.
  17. Jump up^ "Business Principles". The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. Retrieved January 24, 2008.
  18. Jump up^ Bradsher, Keith (March 2, 1994). "House Votes to Request Clinton Data on Mexico"BusinessWeek Online (The New York Times Co.). Retrieved June 4, 2010.
  19. Jump up^ "Bolsa Admits 2 Foreign Firms"New York Times. November 22, 1994. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  20. Jump up^ Spiro, Leah Nathans (May 17, 1999). "Goldman Sachs: How Public Is This IPO?"BusinessWeek Online (The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.). Retrieved January 17, 2007.
  21. Jump up^ "Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.: Ownership"MSN Money. Microsoft. July 13, 2009. Archived from the original on 2007-04-18. Retrieved September 12, 2013.
  22. Jump up^ Merger Transaction Closes, Forming Mcjunkin Red Man Corporation With Co-Headquarters In Charleston, Wv And Tulsa, Ok. Mrcglobal.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-16.
  23. Jump up^ "Goldman's uneasy subprime short"Financial Times.
  24. Jump up^ Subprime star Josh Birnbaum leaves GoldmanThe Telegraph.
  25. Jump up^ Clark, Andrew (December 21, 2007). "Success shines unwelcome spotlight on to Goldman Sachs"The Guardian(London). Retrieved September 12, 2013.
  26. Jump up^ Doyle, Leonard (May 31, 2007). "Goldman Sachs marches on with Bush's candidate for World Bank"The Independent(UK). Retrieved May 15, 2008.
  27. Jump up^ Sloan, Allan (October 16, 2007). "Junk mortgages under the microscope". CNN. Retrieved April 24, 2010.
  28. Jump up^ Hall, Jessica (September 22, 2008). "Goldman Sachs to be regulated by Fed". Bloomberg. Retrieved September 21, 2008.
  29. Jump up^ Wall Street in crisis: Last banks standing give up investment bank statusThe Guardian, September 22, 2008
  30. Jump up^ Goldman, Morgan Stanley Bring Down Curtain on an Era,bloomberg, September 22, 2008
  31. Jump up^ Duke, Simon Goldman Sachs ready to hand out £7bn salary and bonus package... after its £6bn bail-out Mail on line.
  32. Jump up^ "Goldman Sachs Reputation Tarnished"Financial Times. 2009-08-02. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
  33. Jump up^ "Berkshire Hathaway to Invest $5 billion in Goldman Sachs". .goldmansachs.com. 2008-09-23. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
  34. Jump up^ Sloan, Allan (October 16, 2007). "An Unsavory Slice of Subprime"The Washington Post. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
  35. Jump up^ "Bank Bonus Tab: $33 billion"The Wall Street Journal, July 30, 2009
  36. Jump up^ Harper, Christine (2008-11-17). "Blankfein, Goldman Deputies Decide to Forgo Bonuses". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
  37. Jump up^ "Goldman Sachs Pays $1.1 billion to Redeem TARP Warrants". Goldman Sachs. July 22, 2009. Retrieved December 15, 2009.[dead link]
  38. Jump up^ Crippe, Alex (March 18, 2011). "Warren Buffett Gets an Unwanted Call from Goldman Sachs"cnbc. Retrieved February 15, 2013.
  39. Jump up to:a b http://hereisthecity.com/2013/07/16/how-did-goldmans-first-half-employee-compensation-come-out/
  40. Jump up to:a b Craig, Susanne; Enrich, David; Sidel, Robin (January 12, 2010). "Banks Brace for Bonus Fury"The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 13, 2010.
  41. Jump up^ ""FRB: Press Release – Federal Reserve releases detailed information about transactions conducted to stabilize markets during the recent financial crisis". Federal Reserve. December 1, 2010". Federalreserve.gov. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
  42. Jump up^ ""Primary Dealer Credit Facility (PDCF)". Federal Reserve. Retrieved December 3, 2010". Federalreserve.gov. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
  43. Jump up^ ""Term Securities Lending Facility (TSLF) and TSLF Options Program (TOP)". Federal Reserve. Retrieved December 3, 2010". Federalreserve.gov. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
  44. Jump up^ ""FRB: Regulatory Reform: Transaction Data". Federal Reserve. Retrieved December 3, 2010". Federalreserve.gov. 2011-10-11. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
  45. Jump up^ "J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, other banks repay TARP". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
  46. Jump up^ Barr, Colin (July 22, 2009). "Goldman 'warrants' raves from Congress"CNN.
  47. Jump up^ "Goldman Sachs Group Inc: NYSE:GS quotes & news - Google Finance". Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  48. Jump up^ Gavin, Robert (December 12, 2006). "Good deal: Average Goldman Sachs employee makes $622,000"The Boston Globe. Retrieved January 17, 2007.
  49. Jump up^ http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-04-16/at-goldman-the-average-pay-for-3-months-is-135-594
  50. Jump up^ "Please, Sir, I want Some More". New York Magazine. December 5, 2005. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
  51. Jump up^ "Best Places to Launch a Career 2008". Bwnt.businessweek.com. Retrieved November 24, 2009.
  52. Jump up^ Harper, Christine (December 21, 2007). "Goldman Awards Blankfein a Record $67.9 million Bonus (Update1)". Bloomberg. Retrieved December 21, 2007.
  53. Jump up^ "Goldman Sachs cuts staff in annual review process".Reuters. March 19, 2012.
  54. Jump up^ "366 F.3d 70".
  55. Jump up^ "Who We Are". Goldman Sachs. Retrieved September 13, 2013.
  56. Jump up^ Based on SEC filings for the last twelve months ending May 31, 2008.
  57. Jump up^ Schulman, Daniel (January 1, 2007). "The Highwaymen". Mother Jones. Retrieved April 30, 2007.
  58. Jump up to:a b Harper, Christine (2008-04-09). "Goldman Had More Trading-Loss Days Than Morgan Stanley, Lehman". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved September 12, 2013.
  59. Jump up to:a b "Distressed-Debt Investors Eye Asia"Wall Street Journal. August 7, 2013. Retrieved August 8, 2013.
  60. Jump up^ "Group Overview". Retrieved 2007-02-05.
  61. Jump up to:a b "Company Overview (GS)". Reuters. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
  62. Jump up^ "'Alpha' Magazine Announces 2009 Hedge Fund 100, the World's Largest Hedge Funds"Alpha. April 21, 2009. Archived from the original on December 16, 2009. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
  63. Jump up^ "The List: The World's Largest Hedge Funds"Foreign Policy. September 2007. Retrieved January 18, 2008.
  64. Jump up^ Mackintosh, James (May 24, 2007). "Biggest hedge funds tighten grip"Financial Times. Retrieved January 18, 2008.
  65. Jump up^ Harper, Christine (September 16, 2011). "Goldman Sachs Shuts Down Global Alpha Fund After Investors Withdraw Money". Bloomberg L.P.
  66. Jump up^ http://www.marketwatch.com/story/goldman-sachs-asset-management-to-acquire-stable-value-business-from-deutsche-asset-wealth-management-2013-09-25
  67. Jump up^ "GS Capital Partners". The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. Retrieved February 8, 2007.
  68. Jump up^ "GS Capital Partners VI". Business Wire.
  69. Jump up^ Dearbail, Jordan (November 22, 2007). "Goldmans buys 10% stake in CMC Markets"The Times (UK). Retrieved January 23, 2010.
  70. Jump up^ "Goldman Sachs Paper No.134 Relevant Emerging Markets". .goldmansachs.com. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
  71. Jump up^ Khan, Jasim Uddin (December 15, 2005). "Bangladesh on Goldman Sachs 'Next Eleven' list"The Daily Star. Retrieved January 17, 2007.
  72. Jump up^ "The Street Turns Green"Newsweek (Newsweek, Inc.). 2007. Retrieved November 23, 2007.
  73. Jump up^ "Corporate Engagement". The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
  74. Jump up^ "100 Best Companies to Work 2007, All Stars"Fortune. 2007. Retrieved May 18, 2007.
  75. Jump up^ "Goldman Sachs Group - Best Companies to Work For 2013 - Fortune". Money.cnn.com. 2013-02-04. Retrieved 2013-06-23.
  76. Jump up^ "Goldman Sachs Establishes Goldman Sachs Gives Charitable Fund". .goldmansachs.com. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
  77. Jump up to:a b "Goldman Sachs – Great Places to Work Institute". Great Places to Work Institute. Retrieved November 18, 2009.
  78. Jump up to:a b Schmidt, Robert; Christine Harper (July 11, 2009)."Goldman, Buffett Establish $500 million Small-Business Program". Bloomberg. Retrieved November 18, 2009.
  79. Jump up^ van Praag, Lucas (November 17, 2009). "Goldman Sachs Launches 10,000 Small Businesses Initiative". Goldman Sachs. Retrieved November 18, 2009.
  80. Jump up^ Blume, Mary (July 7, 1999). "Want to Speak American? Now It's a Walkover"The New York Times. Retrieved October 9, 2009.[dead link]
  81. Jump up to:a b John B. Taylor (September 2012). "Regulatory Expansion Versus Economic Expansion in Two Recoveries". Retrieved September 12, 2013.
  82. Jump up^ Jones, Huw (September 2010). "Basel rules to have little impact on economy" (pdf). Reuters.
  83. Jump up^ Philip Suttle (3 March 2011). "The Macroeconomic Implications of Basel III". Institute of International Finance. Retrieved 2012-11-17.
  84. Jump up^ Patrick Slovik (2012). Systemically Important Banks and Capital Regulations Challenges. OECD Economics Department Working Papers. OECD Publishing.doi:10.1787/5kg0ps8cq8q6-en.
  85. Jump up^ "Comment Letter on Proposals to Comprehensively Revise the Regulatory Capital Framework for U.S.Banking Organizations". Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. 22 October 2012. Retrieved September 12, 2013. "American Bankers Association, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association and The Financial Services Roundtable respond to Basel III and other regulations."
  86. Jump up^ 95 entities listed athttp://www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/federal/2012-ad-95-96-97/2012-ad95.html accessed 3-13-13.
  87. Jump up^ "Testimony of William A. Loving" (pdf). Retrieved September 12, 2013.
  88. Jump up^ ReichRobert"Wall Street is Still Out of Control, and Why Obama Should Call for Glass-Steagall and a Breakup of Big Banks"Robert Reich.org. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
  89. Jump up^ NY Times 1/7/13http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/01/07/easing-of-rules-for-banks-acknowledges-reality/
  90. Jump up^ "Bloomberg news: "Goldman Sachs's Tax Rate Drops to 1%, or $14 million"". December 16, 2008. Retrieved August 9, 2009.
  91. Jump up^ "Form 8-K for Goldman Sachs Group Inc.". Goldman Sachs. December 16, 2008. p. 6. Retrieved November 18, 2009.[dead link]
  92. Jump up^ "The Nation: "8 Corporations That Owe You Money"". February 3, 2011. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
  93. Jump up^ Balzli, Beat (February 8, 2010), "How Goldman Sachs Helped Greece to Mask its True Debt"Der Spiegel, retrieved July 1, 2011.
  94. Jump up^ Aversa, Jeannine (February 25, 2010). "Fed chief: We're looking into firms betting on Greek default"USA Today. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
  95. Jump up^ Castle, Stephen & Kitsantonis, Niki (June 19, 2011), "Deal on Lifeline to Avert Greek Bankruptcy Is Postponed"The New York Times, retrieved July 1, 2011.
  96. Jump up to:a b c d e f g Foley, Stephen (November 18, 2011), "What price the new democracy? Goldman Sachs conquers Europe"The Independent (London), retrieved November 20, 2011.
  97. Jump up^ "Top Goldman executive quits over culture of 'toxic' greed". The Daily Telegraph. 14 March 2012. Archived from the original on March 14, 2012.
  98. Jump up^ Smith, Greg (March 14, 2012). "Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs"New York Times. p. A27. Archived from the original on March 14, 2012.
  99. Jump up^ Chapple, Irene (March 14, 2012). "Goldman Sachs banker quits 'toxic' firm". CNN. Archived from the original on March 14, 2012.
  100. Jump up^ "An insider's take on Goldman Sachs strikes a nerve"The Economist, October 27, 2012.
  101. Jump up^ "Goldman Sachs urged bets against California bonds it helped sell", Sharona Coutts, Marc Lifsher and Michael A. Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, November 11, 2008
  102. Jump up^ "McClatchy | Goldman". Mcclatchydc.com. Retrieved November 24, 2009.
  103. Jump up^ McArdle, Megan (July 10, 2009). "Matt Taibbi Gets His Sarah Palin On"The Atlantic. Retrieved November 6, 2009.
  104. Jump up^ Harper, Christine (6 February 2013). "Goldman Sachs Shouldn't Work for Russia, Human Rights Group Says".Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
  105. Jump up^ "Human Rights Foundation Calls On Goldman Sachs To Cancel Russia Consulting Deal - See more at: http://humanrightsfoundation.org/HRF-calls-Goldman-Sachs-cancel-Russia-deal-06-02-2013.php#sthash.u70Zqybp.dpuf"Human Rights Foundation. 6 February 2013.
  106. Jump up^ Basu, Indrani (8 February 2013). "Goldman Sachs shouldn't work for Russia, says human rights group"Times of India.
  107. Jump up^ "Another Lobbyist Headed Into Obama Administration", Justin Rood and Emma Schwartz, ABCNews.com, January 27, 2009
  108. Jump up^ Carney, Timothy (2011-02-23) Obama's top funder also leads the nation in White House visitsWashington Examiner
  109. Jump up^ Worthy, Ford S.; Brett Duval Fromson and Lorraine Carson (December 22, 1986). "Wall Street's Spreading Scandal".Fortune Magazine (Cable News Network LP, LLLP. A Time Warner Company). Retrieved January 17, 2007.
  110. Jump up^ Thomas, Landon Jr. (February 18, 2002). "Cold Call"New York Magazine. Retrieved January 17, 2007.
  111. Jump up^ James, Frank, "Goldman Sachs Director Tied To Insider-Trading Scandal"NPR, April 23, 2010 12:47 pm. Retrieved March 1, 2011.
  112. Jump up^ McCool, Grant, "Judge postpones Rajaratnam trial to March 8", Reuters, February 10, 2011 10:52 am EST. Retrieved March 1, 2011.
  113. Jump up^ James, Frank, "Ex-Goldman Director Charged With Insider Trading"Associated PressNPR, March 1, 2011. Retrieved March 1, 2011.
  114. Jump up^ Andrew Tangel (2012-10-24). "Rajat Gupta, former Goldman Sachs director, is sentenced - Los Angeles Times". Latimes.com. Retrieved 2013-06-23.
  115. Jump up^ Alloway, Tracy (April 16, 2009), "Goldman creates orphans and other conspiracies"FT.com,
  116. Jump up to:a b "Goldman Sachs First Quarter 2009 Earnings Release". Goldman Sachs Investor Relations. Retrieved April 22, 2009.
  117. Jump up to:a b "Goldman Revamp Puts Dec. Losses Off Books". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 22, 2009.
  118. Jump up^ ""Goldman Sachs Form 8-K, December 15, 2008
  119. Jump up^ LyondellBasell considers bankruptcy filing. Reuters. Retrieved April 22, 2009.
  120. Jump up^ Lyondell Banks Caught in Bankruptcy Lose $3.7 billion in Loans. Bloomberg. Retrieved April 22, 2009.
  121. Jump up^ Goldman Sachs and Merrill: Did December Ever Happen?. Option Hustler. Retrieved April 22, 2009.
  122. Jump up^ Rebroadcast of Goldman Sachs Conference Call to Announce 2009 First Quarter Results. Goldman Sachs Investor Relations. Retrieved April 22, 2009.
  123. Jump up^ "Morgan Stanley Posts Bigger-Than-Estimated Loss (Update3) ", Christine HarperBloomberg.com, April 22, 2009
  124. Jump up^ "Financial Supplement 5-6-09.xls" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-11-02.
  125. Jump up^ Goldman's blow out Q1 figures – reactionFT Alphaville. Retrieved April 22, 2009.
  126. Jump up^ Morgan Stanley Posts Bigger-Than Estimated Loss, Cuts Dividend. Bloomberg. Retrieved April 22, 2009.
  127. Jump up^ Inman, Phillip (June 21, 2009). "Goldman Sachs to make record bonus payout | Business | The Observer"Guardian(UK). Retrieved November 24, 2009.
  128. Jump up^ Mandel, Michael. "German and French banks got $36 billion from AIG Bailout"BusinessWeek. Retrieved November 24, 2009.
  129. Jump up^ AIG ships billions in bailout abroad, The Politico, March 15, 2009
  130. Jump up^ A.I.G. Lists Firms It Paid With Taxpayer Money, The New York Times, March 15, 2009
  131. Jump up^ "Dimming the Aura of Goldman Sachs", New York Times, April 17, 2009
  132. Jump up^ "Inspector to Audit A.I.G.'s Counterparty Payouts – DealBook Blog". Dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com. April 7, 2009. Retrieved November 24, 2009.
  133. Jump up^ "Cuomo Widens His A.I.G. Investigation – DealBook Blog". Dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com. March 26, 2009. Retrieved November 24, 2009.
  134. Jump up^ E-mail This (March 20, 2009). "Goldman Maintains It Had No A.I.G. Exposure – DealBook Blog". Dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com. Retrieved November 24, 2009.
  135. Jump up to:a b "Goldman Protected Its Clients From AIG's Weakness ", letter from Lucas van Praag, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs & Co, Wall St. Journal, April 13, 2009
  136. Jump up^ Section of SIGTARP Report Related to Goldman Sachs[dead link]
  137. Jump up^ "Goldman Sachs's Viniar 'Mystified' by Interest in AIG (Update1)". Bloomberg. April 14, 2009. Retrieved November 24, 2009.
  138. Jump up^ Neil Barofsky (February 6, 2009). "SIGTARP Initial Report to Congress". United States Department of Treasury. Retrieved December 2, 2009.
  139. Jump up^ "Another Dishonest NYT Editorial on AIG", Economics of Contempt (blog). Retrieved April 29, 2009.
  140. Jump up^ Morgenson, Gretchen (September 27, 2008), "Behind Insurer's Crisis, Blind Eye to a Web of Risk"The New York Times
  141. Jump up^ Goldman, Merrill Collect Billions After Fed's AIG Bailout Loans. Bloomberg. Retrieved April 29, 2009.
  142. Jump up^ Goldman rejected settling of AIG trades at discount, CEO Blankfein had no meetings with Paulson about problems at insurer: CFO. MarketWatch. Retrieved April 29, 2009.
  143. Jump up^ Matt TaibbiGriftopiaSpiegel & Grau, 2010. p. 248. ISBN 978-0-385-52995-2.
  144. Jump up^ AIG Seeks Funds From JPMorgan, Goldman After Fed Balks at Loan. Bloomberg. Retrieved April 29, 2009.
  145. Jump up to:a b van Natta, Gretchen (August 8, 2009). "Paulson's Calls to Goldman Tested Ethics"The New York Times. Retrieved November 22, 2009.
  146. Jump up to:a b Farrell, Greg (May 8, 2009). "Friedman taken to task over Goldman deal"Financial Times (registration required). Retrieved October 5, 2009.
  147. Jump up^ Friedman, Stephen (May 7, 2009)."Letter to William Dudley and Ben Bernanke"FT Alphaville. Retrieved July 22, 2010.
  148. Jump up^ "NY Fed statement: Stephen Friedman Resigns as Chairman of the New York Fed's Board of Directors"Financial Times(registration required). May 7, 2009. Retrieved October 5, 2009.
  149. Jump up^ "Goldman Pays to End State Inquiry Into Loans ", Leslie WayneNew York Times, May 11, 2009
  150. Jump up to:a b c d e Gretchen Morgenson; Louise Story (23 December 2009). "Banks Bundled Bad Debt, Bet Against It and Won". New York Times. This article describes the intricate links between Goldman Sachs trader, Jonathan M. Egol, synthetic collateralized debt obligations, or C.D.O., ABACUS, and asset-backed securities index (ABX)
  151. Jump up^ Stempel, Jonathan (September 30, 2010), "Goldman's Tourre says SEC suit should be dismissed", Reuters, Fox Business Network
  152. Jump up^ Bray, Chad (September 30, 2010), "Goldman Trader Seeks a Dismissal", The Wall Street Journal,
  153. Jump up^ Koppel, Nathan & Jones, Ashby (September 28, 2010),"Securities Ruling Limits Claims of Fraud"The Wall Street Journal
  154. Jump up^ ElBoghdady, Dina (30 July 2013). "Jurors hear closing arguments in SEC fraud case against Fabrice Tourre". Washington Post. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
  155. Jump up^ "Former Goldman Trader Is Found Liable in Mortgage Deal". NY Times. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
  156. Jump up^ "Markit launched ABX.HE". 17 January 2006.
  157. Jump up^ "ABX Indices The New US Asset Backed Credit Default Swap Benchmark Indices" (PDF). Wiley. January 2006.
  158. Jump up^ "Acquires International Index Company and Agrees to Acquire CDS IndexCo". Markit. 14 November 2007. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
  159. Jump up^ The Food Bubble: How Wall Street Starved Millions and got away with it, by Frederick Kaufman, Harper's, 2010 July
  160. Jump up^ Democracy Now (radio show), Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales, Interview with Frederick Kaufman, 2010 7 17
  161. Jump up^ Jay, Paul (May 6, 2010). "Global Food Bubble? (interview with Jayati Ghosh)"Pacific Free Press. Retrieved July 30, 2010.
  162. Jump up^ "Clearing the usual suspects", Buttonwood, The Economist, June 24, 2010
  163. Jump up to:a b "Abacus 2007-AC1: Built to fail"National Post (Toronto). April 16, 2010. Retrieved April 17, 2010.
  164. Jump up to:a b c d e "Securities and Exchange Commission vs Goldman Sachs & Co & Fabrice Tourre, Complaint (Securities Fraud)".U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. April 16, 2010. Retrieved April 17, 2010.
  165. Jump up to:a b c http://www2.goldmansachs.com/our-firm/press/press-releases/current/sec-response.html Retrieved on April 19, 2010
  166. Jump up^ Goldman Sachs Options Records (GS), Volume Spike Investor, vsinvestor.com, retrieved on April 17, 2010.
  167. Jump up^ The Associated Press (2010-04-30). "Retrieved on April 30, 2010". Finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
  168. Jump up^ Retrieved on April 19, 2010.[dead link]
  169. Jump up^ Goldman Sachs (April 16, 2010). "Goldman Sachs Makes Further Comments on SEC Complaint". Retrieved April 27, 2010.
  170. Jump up^ Corkery, Michael (2010-04-19). "Retrieved on April 19, 2010". Blogs.wsj.com. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
  171. Jump up to:a b "Goldman's misleading statement on ACA". Reuters. April 19, 2010.
  172. Jump up^ "Retrieved April 24, 2010". Justoneminute.typepad.com. 2010-04-21. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
  173. Jump up^ Harvey Pitt (2010-04-20). "Retrieved April 23, 2010". Thedailybeast.com. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
  174. Jump up^ "Retrieved April 23, 2010". Theatlantic.com. 2011-10-29. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
  175. Jump up^ Jones, Ashby (April 19, 2010). "Goldman v. SEC: It's All About Materiality"The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 20, 2010.
  176. Jump up^ "Goldman Settles With S.E.C. for $550 million"The New York Times. July 15, 2010. Retrieved July 15, 2010.
  177. Jump up^ "Senate Investigations Subcommittee Releases Levin-Coburn Report On the Financial Crisis" (Press release). Office of Senator Carl Levin. April 13, 2011. Archived from the original on May 4, 2011. Retrieved April 14, 2011.
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Further reading[edit]

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