la réputation de goldman sachs s’autodétruit lentement
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8/2/2019 La rputation de Goldman Sachs sautodtruit lentement.
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La rputation de Goldman Sachs sautodtruit lentement.
http://finance.blog.lemonde.fr/2012/03/16/goldman-sachs-est-elle-en-chute-libre/
L'editorial publi par le New York Times et crit par Greg Smith, responsable de lactivit
europenne en produits drivs sur actions de Goldman Sachs loccasion de son dpart
de celle qui fut une prestigieuse firme de Wall Street, a suscit un accs de colre des
dirigeants de Goldman Sachs ainsi que des dbats dans toutes les directions. Lintress
considre que lenvironnement de Goldman Sachs est devenu toxique et destructif.
Passons sur la manire dont Lloyd Blankfein, le Chairman and CEOet Gary Cohn, le
Presidentont tent de diminuer this individual dans un de ces communiqus de presse
dont ils ont le secret et qui, depuis des annes, les a enfoncs aux yeux des autorits, des
observateurs et meme de lopinion avise qui sintresse aux vicissitudes de Wall Street.
Gageons que le remplacement programm du responsable de la communication par un
ancien press secretary de la Maison Blanche va encore aggraver leur cas. La rponse de
lopinion publique et le battage de clients appels au secours nont fait quenvenimer les
choses depuis deux jours.Le maire de New York, Michael Bloomberg, un pur produit de Wall Street, traite l'article de
"ridicule" et a rendu une visite de solidarit Goldman Sachs! N'oublions pas que le budget
de la ville de New York depend des bonus de Wall Street.
Depuis que Goldman Sachs est devenue une socit cote au New York Stock
Exchange, lengagement de maintenir la mme culture a t rapidement foul du pied par
un patron qui vient dune firme acquise par Goldman dans le ngoce de matires
premires. Les meilleurs banquiers de la firme ont quitt depuis longtemps.La cupidit
long termedont se vantait la firme a depuis lors laiss la place une cupidit court
terme.Le catalogue (partiel) des comportements sulfureux qui ont rcemment affect Goldman
Sachs est le plus nourri de Wall Street qui sy connat pourtant en turpitudes.
http://finance.blog.lemonde.fr/2012/03/16/goldman-sachs-est-elle-en-chute-libre/http://finance.blog.lemonde.fr/2012/03/16/goldman-sachs-est-elle-en-chute-libre/http://http/www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/opinion/why-i-am-leaving-goldman-sachs.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=generalhttp://finance.blog.lemonde.fr/files/2012/03/lloyd-blankfein-and-gary-cohn1.jpghttp://http/www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/opinion/why-i-am-leaving-goldman-sachs.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=generalhttp://finance.blog.lemonde.fr/2012/03/16/goldman-sachs-est-elle-en-chute-libre/ -
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o -Le Fonds Abacus bourr de titres pourris et vendus aux clients de la firme alors que son
activit pour compte propres prenait une position inverse lui a valu une amende de 550
millions de dollars.
o -La structuration de plusieurs milliards de dette grecque en accords de swapsqui ont
permis de camoufler lampleur de cet endettement a affect la nomination de Mario Draghi
comme President de la Banque Centrale Europenne. Cest Gary Cohn qui menait cette
opration qui a rendu la gestion de la crise grecque encore plus opaque et cest Goldman
qui avait facilit un autre camouflage lentre de la Grce dans lEuro. En dehors de
gagner 300 millions de dollars, la firme na jamais t inquite.
o -La suspicion de parjure dans le cadre dune dposition devant le Snat amricain par
Lloyd Blankfein et son directeur financier na jamais t examine. Si elle avait t instruite,
elle aurait pu lui valoir la prison.
o -Les bonus extravagants qui ont continu tre verss anne aprs anne au Lloyd
Blankfein et ses proches collaborateurs dpassent tous les records de Wall Street pour les
heureux employs et dirigeants qui ont eu la chance de ne pas tre victimes de la purge
des dernires annes. Meme la SEC est venu hier la rescousse interdisant des
actionnaires critiquant ces rmunrations de reposer la question lAssemble Gnrale :
les Surs de Saint Francois de Philadelphie et dautres institutions ont t renvoyes. La
SEC a-t-elle oubli que Monsieur Blankfein a tripl son salaire en 2012 $ 2 millions, ce
qui justifiait leur dmarche insistante contre ces rmunrations pcheresses?
o -Laccusation porte contreun de ses administrateurs, Rajat Gupta, lancien patron de
Mc Kinsey, davoir tuyaut un de ses amis gestionnaire duhedge fundGalleon sur des
informations confidentielles a abouti des condamnations pourinsider trading.
o -Une suspicion pese toujours sur son ancien President, Hank Paulson, qui, lorsquil tait le
Ministre des Finances, a rembours avec les deniers de loncle Sam 10 milliards de dollars
son ancienne firme et a quelques autres- que lui devait AIG tombe en faillite.o -La faillite (qui sent de plus en plus la fraude) de MF Global dont le patron tait un
autre ancien CEO de Goldman Sachs, Jon Corzine a vu largent des clients utilis pour
satisfaire les exigences de fonds propres au dni de la rglementation amricaine.
o -Enfin, ce vendredi, Goldman Sachs a annonc une rvision de ses rgles sur les conflits
dintrt. Elle avait t assaillie de critiques pour avoir sollicit et obtenu le mandat
de reprsenter les actionnaires de la socit texane El Paso que Kinder Morgan tente
dacqurir. Goldman Sachs est actionnaire a concurrence de plusieurs milliards
deKinder Morgan. Une baisse du prix de vente de son enrichirait Goaldman. On avait
dj vcu cela lors de lacquisition par le NYSE (dont le patron est un ancien de Goldman
Sachs) dune firme de Chicago dont Goldman Sachs tait actionnaire. Cette attitudecontredit la jurisprudence des tribunaux du Delaware qui fixent les rgles de gouvernance.
Quelles que soient les rponses sur chacun de ces points, leur accumulation donne
beaucoup de crdit aux accusations de Greg Smith. Il sagit dun systme n de
larrogance dune firme qui se croit au-dessus des lois et de lthique.
Si le scandale provoqu par la lettre de Greg Smith est tellement grand, cest quaujourdhui
encore, au lieu de reconnatre que Goldman Sachs est devenu un gigantesque hedge
fundqui gre son bilan au mieux de ses intrts, Lloyd Blankfein continue prtendre que
les valeurs et la culture de la firme nont pas chang.Cette transformation dune firme qui tait la plus admire deWall Streeten une institution
spculative de gnie nest pas un drame. Elle a russi en trois ans a transformer sa
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rputation de la meilleure banque d'affaires en un symbole de tout ce que Wall Street a de
plus contestable.
Le refus dadmettre que le client est un sujet et non un objet de lucre est une hypocrisie qui
na que trop dur. Comme lcrit William Cohan (auteur d'un livre sur Goldman Sachs)
dans le Financial Times Goldman Sachs a, depuis longtemps, reni sa prtention de
mettre en premier lintrt de ses clients et tent en vain de convaincre le public quelle
continue vivre sur base de ses principesCest un moment existentiel pour Goldman. Il
est triste que ses dirigeants ne semblent pas le raliser.
Cest la distance entre le discours et les comportements qui fait que Goldman Sachs est
devenu le symbole des dviances de Wall Street. Elle est loin dtre la seule firme se
comporter de la meme manire. Cest pour cela que Jamie Dimon, le patron de JP Morgan
Chase, a prcis quil tait hors de question de profiter de cet affaiblissement de Goldman
Sachs : il est assez intelligent pour savoir que Goldman Sachs clabousse Wall Street.
Reflexe corporatiste ou dfensif ?
Au cas o le lecteur serait tent par lanti-amricanisme primaire, je me permettrai derappeler que le responsable de la salle des marchs de la Socit Gnrale, Christophe
Miann, a t promu aprs le scandale Kerviel (dont il tait le patron). Sa dposition au
tribunal qui a jug Jrme Kerviel na rien envier au dni des requins de Wall Street. C'est
une anthologie du patron-qui-n'est-pas-responsable.
Enfin faut-il le dire, il y a chez Goldman Sachs comme ailleurs, des banquiers de grande
qualit et intgrit. Malheureusement, ils ne sont pas aux commandes de la firme.
Comme lcrit Frank Partnoy, cest une occasion pour les rgulateurs, et peut tre meme
pour Wall Street, dagir humainement et de nous dire que le terme client a une vraie
signification .
Laissons Jacki Zehner, une ancienne partnerde Goldman Sachs, le dernier mot. "ce sontdes accusations srieuses faites par une personne crdible et j'espere que cela constituera
un rappel l'ordre du Conseil d'Administration".
Why I Am Leaving Goldman SachsBy GREG SMITH
Published: March 14, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/opinion/why-i-am-leaving-goldman-sachs.html?_r=1
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TODAY is my last day at Goldman Sachs. After almost 12 years at the firm first as a
summer intern while at Stanford, then in New York for 10 years, and now in London I
believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people
and its identity. And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive
as I have ever seen it.Enlarge This Image
Victor Kerlow
Related
Times Topic:Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
A Public Exit From Goldman Sachs Hits at a Wounded Wall Street(March 15, 2012)
Goldman Sachs Responds
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Read All Comments (373)
To put the problem in the simplest terms, the interests of the client continue to be sidelined
in the way the firm operates and thinks about making money. Goldman Sachs is one of the
worlds largest and most important investment banks and it is too integral to global finance
to continue to act this way. The firm has veered so far from the place I joined right out of
college that I can no longer in good conscience say that I identify with what it stands for.
It might sound surprising to a skeptical public, but culture was always a vital part of
Goldman Sachss success. It revolved around teamwork, integrity, a spirit of humility, andalways doing right by our clients. The culture was the secret sauce that made this place great
and allowed us to earn our clients trust for 143 years. It wasnt just about making money;
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this alone will not sustain a firm for so long. It had something to do with pride and belief in
the organization. I am sad to say that I look around today and see virtually no trace of the
culture that made me love working for this firm for many years. I no longer have the pride,
or the belief.
But this was not always the case. For more than a decade I recruited and mentored
candidates through our grueling interview process. I was selected as one of 10 people (out of
a firm of more than 30,000) to appear on our recruiting video, which is played on every
college campus we visit around the world. In 2006 I managed the summer intern program
in sales and trading in New York for the 80 college students who made the cut, out of the
thousands who applied.
I knew it was time to leave when I realized I could no longer look students in the eye and tell
them what a great place this was to work.
When the history books are written about Goldman Sachs, they may reflect that the current
chief executive officer, Lloyd C. Blankfein, and the president, Gary D. Cohn, lost hold of the
firms culture on their watch. I truly believe that this decline in the firms moral fiber
represents the single most serious threat to its long-run survival.
Over the course of my career I have had the privilege of advising two of the largest hedge
funds on the planet, five of the largest asset managers in the United States, and three of the
most prominent sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East and Asia. My clients have a total
asset base of more than a trillion dollars. I have always taken a lot of pride in advising my
clients to do what I believe is right for them, even if it means less money for the firm. This
view is becoming increasingly unpopular at Goldman Sachs. Another sign that it was time to
leave.
How did we get here? The firm changed the way it thought about leadership. Leadership
used to be about ideas, setting an example and doing the right thing. Today, if you make
enough money for the firm (and are not currently an ax murderer) you will be promoted
into a position of influence.
What are three quick ways to become a leader? a) Execute on the firms axes, which is
Goldman-speak for persuading your clients to invest in the stocks or other products that we
are trying to get rid of because they are not seen as having a lot of potential profit. b) Hunt
Elephants. In English: get your clients some of whom are sophisticated, and some of
whom arent to trade whatever will bring the biggest profit to Goldman. Call me old-
fashioned, but I dont like selling my clients a product that is wrong for them. c) Find
yourself sitting in a seat where your job is to trade any illiquid, opaque product with a three-
letter acronym.
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My proudest moments in life getting a full scholarship to go from South Africa to
Stanford University, being selected as a Rhodes Scholar national finalist, winning a bronze
medal for table tennis at the Maccabiah Games in Israel, known as the Jewish Olympics
have all come through hard work, with no shortcuts. Goldman Sachs today has become too
much about shortcuts and not enough about achievement. It just doesnt feel right to me
anymore.
I hope this can be a wake-up call to the board of directors. Make the client the focal point of
your business again. Without clients you will not make money. In fact, you will not exist.
Weed out the morally bankrupt people, no matter how much money they make for the firm.
And get the culture right again, so people want to work here for the right reasons. People
who care only about making money will not sustain this firm or the trust of its clients
for very much longer.
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Greg Smith is resigning today as a Goldman Sachs executive director and head of the
firms United States equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
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