[ by Melanie Gretchen ]

Lloyd Blankfein isn't going anywhere.  The Goldman Sachs CEO since 2006 is firmly focused on the firm's future – to which he is firmly enjoined.

"The combination of this being who I am and what I do and having absolutely no other interests makes me think this is what I’ll be doing for a while." -- Mr. Blankfein, 58, during an interview with Stephanie Ruhle on Bloomberg Television today from the sidelines of Goldman Sachs’s technology conference in San Francisco.

He would, he said, ride into the sunset to serve as U.S. Treasury secretary as his predecessors Henry Paulson and Robert Rubin did after they left the firm.  Though he would "love to be wanted" for such a role, it would seem that the "distant hypothetical" is indeed deep in the future.  Rather, he is set on reinvigorating his firm, the 5th-largest U.S. bank by assets, from the $550 million it paid to settle a fraud case brought the SEC.

"I want to spend most of my time leaning forward, trying to finance businesses that will improve the economy.  I’m not going to outrun the legacy issues."

For further details, go to [Bloomberg, 2/12/13].