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Goldman Directors Need to Investigate: Ex-Partner

March 19, 2012
[ by Melanie Gretchen ] Goldman Sachs is having a losing month (as in 'losing face').  Former Goldman Director Rajat Gupta is gearing up for his insider trading trial.  Gupta's lawyer claims that the leaks attributed to his client, in fact, came from a Goldman employee.  Goldman's managing director David Loeb and technology stock analyst Henry King are being investigated for having possibly leaked insider information, while prop trader Greg Smith shared his reasons for resigning Goldman with everyone in the world, ending not only his 12-year career with the firm, but prompting a new round of debates into Wall Street ethics. Aftermath of Greg Smith's Public Resignation. With his Opinion piece in last week's NY Times, Greg Smith detailed how the firm's culture had changed, at a cost to the firm's clients.  Among those in agreement with Smith is former partner Jacki Zehner who wrote on her blog that the firm's directors should be held accountable to shareholders by investigating Smith's allegations. Ms. Zehner, 47, who was with Goldman for 14 years and was the first female trader to be promoted to partner  - and coincidentally married a former Goldman partner - wrote that she’s heard from "many people" in the past few years that the firm has emphasized profits over character, adding: "These are very serious accusations from a credible person in my view and I hope it does indeed provide a ‘wake-up’ call to the board of directors." Ms. Zehner is now CEO and President of Women Moving Millions, a non-profit organization supporting the advancement of women and girls worldwide. Another Goldman alumnus, Janet Tiebout Hanson, who left Goldman Sachs after almost 14 years ago, in 1993 (before Mr. Smith's time), used her own blog post to criticize the former derivatives salesman's NYTimes piece as a "verbal hand grenade."  She said he's "just a quitter who never gave management an opportunity to respond before he verbally strafed the entire firm in print." Goldman Management Respond. For their part, following the NYTimes publication CEO Lloyd Blankfein, 57, and Chairman Gary Cohn, 51, who have held their current roles since 2006, responded with a memo expressing disappointment with Smith's assertions and cited a survey of employees that found most disagree.  Still, "if an individual expresses issues, we examine them carefully and we will be doing so in this case." In the Event of Feedback. Ms. Zehner said in her blog post the board should decide how to respond to Smith’s accusations after they get some answers.  "If those answers are that the kind of behavior reported by Mr. Smith is not the norm, then they would have done their job, this story will fade and Goldman will go about its business for another 143 years," she wrote.  "If the answers are the opposite, heads should roll." For further details, go to [Bloomberg, 3/17/12].