Salient to Investors:
Goldman Sachs’ Multi-Strategy Investing team’s survival shows how Goldman Sachs has worked around regulations curbing proprietary bets at banks.
Matthew Richardson at NYU said the law does not bar longer-term wagers so leaves room for other risky investments. Richardson said from a systemic-risk perspective, it’s longer-term holdings which are of issue.
James Brower at Serengeti Asset Mgmt said the team’s traders should be market-savvy, enjoy a quick pace, dislike long-term projects and have a risk appetite.
Author Lisa Endlich said Goldman Sachs has been wagering its own money for decades, not in the service of clients but simply to achieve handsome returns.
Blankfein’s comments about shuttered proprietary businesses, and similar remarks a year earlier by Viniar at a conference in Miami, referred to those two teams, DuVally said in his e-mail. The firm has said in filings that Principal Strategies was closed in 2010 and global macro in 2011.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Mark McGoldrick left the SSG unit in 2007, disappointed by a $70 million bonus.
Read the full article at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-08/secret-goldman-team-sidesteps-volcker-after-blankfein-vow.html.