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Something I often wonder. It's quite common on HN to get insiders comments but less on this type of articles. How is it so? what do GS employees or people worki

Something I often wonder. It's quite common on HN to get insiders comments but less on this type of articles. How is it so? what do GS employees or people working in that field think about this?

fleitz 11y ago
Probably along the lines of, 'Hopefully we can make an extra $5.1 billion in the next 8 months so this doesn't impact our commission cheques'
- sseveran 11y ago
  You would have to check their financials to be sure but typically banks set aside money to cover settlements in pending litigation. This has been common at banks of the last few years.
chillydawg 11y ago
Senior insiders from tech companies are often techies and will spend time in places like this. Senior insiders at banks are rarely techies. The techies at the banks that do spend time here probably are so far removed from this activity there's not a lot to talk about.
L_Rahman 11y ago
Not a GS employee, but I work in the industry. Fixed-income securities (like the bonds in question) went from being the most profitable division for investment banks to one of the least. Major banks around the world and shutting down or significantly shrinking their investment banking divisions (Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse) and specifically closing fixed-income desks. The reaction from those of us in the industry is that there was a problem, and we corrected it.
whatok 11y ago
Possibly violating non-disparagement clause in contract and getting sued into oblivion > Hacker News karma
spinlock 11y ago
GS cracks down hard on leaks. There's a fake Twitter account called GSElevator which pretends to be tweets of things over-heard in the elevator at Goldman Sachs. Goldman has since banned talking in elevators. They don't play.
lucozade 11y ago
TBH if you mean the fine then there's not an awful lot to think about. All the big banks have been taking fines on this sort of scale for their mortgage securitisation activity. As the article says, this is more or less what was expected hence it didn't have much impact on share price. From the bank's POV it's better to have the fines over with, even though they're large, as there is a tendency to over compensate on the balance sheet when it's uncertain. The situation today is very different from what it was back then primarily as a consequence of the regulatory changes. As we've not had a equivalent shock since, it's difficult to say whether the changes have been sufficient. I have a bit of a concern that one of the big changes: moving to a predominantly cleared model in preference to bilaterals. It definitely reduces exposure but puts an awful lot of concentration onto a small number of clearing houses and exchanges.

Something I often wonder. It's quite common on HN to get insiders comments but less on this type of articles. How is it so? what do GS employees or people working in that field think about this?

fleitz 11y ago

Probably along the lines of, 'Hopefully we can make an extra $5.1 billion in the next 8 months so this doesn't impact our commission cheques'

sseveran 11y ago
You would have to check their financials to be sure but typically banks set aside money to cover settlements in pending litigation. This has been common at banks of the last few years.

chillydawg 11y ago

Senior insiders from tech companies are often techies and will spend time in places like this. Senior insiders at banks are rarely techies. The techies at the banks that do spend time here probably are so far removed from this activity there's not a lot to talk about.

L_Rahman 11y ago

Not a GS employee, but I work in the industry. Fixed-income securities (like the bonds in question) went from being the most profitable division for investment banks to one of the least. Major banks around the world and shutting down or significantly shrinking their investment banking divisions (Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse) and specifically closing fixed-income desks. The reaction from those of us in the industry is that there was a problem, and we corrected it.

whatok 11y ago

Possibly violating non-disparagement clause in contract and getting sued into oblivion > Hacker News karma

spinlock 11y ago

GS cracks down hard on leaks. There's a fake Twitter account called GSElevator which pretends to be tweets of things over-heard in the elevator at Goldman Sachs. Goldman has since banned talking in elevators. They don't play.

lucozade 11y ago

TBH if you mean the fine then there's not an awful lot to think about. All the big banks have been taking fines on this sort of scale for their mortgage securitisation activity. As the article says, this is more or less what was expected hence it didn't have much impact on share price. From the bank's POV it's better to have the fines over with, even though they're large, as there is a tendency to over compensate on the balance sheet when it's uncertain. The situation today is very different from what it was back then primarily as a consequence of the regulatory changes. As we've not had a equivalent shock since, it's difficult to say whether the changes have been sufficient. I have a bit of a concern that one of the big changes: moving to a predominantly cleared model in preference to bilaterals. It definitely reduces exposure but puts an awful lot of concentration onto a small number of clearing houses and exchanges.