Departing Goldman banker slams "rip-off" culture
LONDON (Reuters) - A Goldman Sachs banker has launched a withering attack on the bank in a newspaper column announcing his resignation, saying that several managing directors at the Wall Street firm had referred to their own clients as "muppets".
In an opinion column for Wednesday's New York Times, Greg Smith, who worked in equity derivatives, said Goldman had become "as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it".
Goldman Sachs issued a short statement in response:
"We disagree with the views expressed, which we don't think reflect the way we run our business. In our view, we will only be successful if our clients are successful. This fundamental truth lies at the heart of how we conduct ourselves."
Calls to Smith, who was a vice president in derivatives sales at the firm, were referred to the bank's press office.
"It makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off. Over the last 12 months I have seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients as "muppets"," Smith said in the newspaper.
Smith's letter set off a blizzard of comments on Twitter and other social media. In the UK "muppet" is used a derogatory term to describe someone who is regarded as being ignorant.
Smith gave no further details about his allegation in the column, which said the London-based banker had spent 12 years at the bank and was resigning on Wednesday.
Goldman Sachs, fourth among investment banks last year according to fee-income rankings compiled by Thomson Reuters and Freeman Consulting, was once described as "a great vampire squid" in the Rolling Stone music magazine. The reference was to the extensive influence of Goldman in politics and business.
In recent years it has faced a series of high-profile incidents potentially damaging to its image after the near-collapse of the global banking system since the middle of 2007.
One of its bankers, Fabrice Tourre -- who referred to himself as "fabulous Fab" in emails -- is still embroiled in legal claims in the United States after allegations that he duped buyers of a complex credit instrument.
And two years ago, Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein caused a media storm when he said that as a banker he was just "doing God's work", defending high banker pay and the role their institutions play in the economy.
(Reporting by Douwe Miedema; Editing by Andrew Callus and Alexander Smith)
Read More @ Source World Banking World Phony: Using Your Identity
From life as a young orphan to the American dream to a corporate nightmare of fraud and money laundering. John Cruz is a survivor. In his new book, World Banking World Phony, Cruz describes his extraordinary rise from poverty to inside a world bank where he uncovered and documented the systemic fraud and money laundering that eventually led to his termination. Cruz first became aware of the fraud in 2009 when he was named vice president; senior business relationship manager (SBRM) over some of HSBC's highest producing branches on Long Island. There he learned that managers at HSBC were so effective because they were establishing fraudulent accounts. He discovered and documented multiple phantom businesses with active accounts but was explicitly told by management to forget what he saw. Cruz recently said of the fraud, : What I realized quickly was that this wasn't a one-time thing, or the activities of a few people. What I found at HSBC was systemic and international, I wrote my book, World Banking World Phony, because no company should be above the law, no matter how big it is or how much money it has.
Fraudulent Stories Here
Comments
Post a Comment