Inflation in the UK could top 22% next year, close to the post-war record set in 1975, if wholesale energy prices remain at current high levels, Goldman Sachs has warned.
Highlighting the pressure on households and businesses, the US investment bank said inflation could peak at 22.4% next year if wholesale gas and electricity prices continue to spiral over the winter.
In a scenario where prices “remain elevated at current levels”, economists at the bank said the Ofgem energy price cap for household bills could rise by more than 80% in January. This would “imply headline inflation peaking at 22.4%”.
Inflation rose above 10% for the first time since the early 80s in July, fuelled by surging wholesale energy prices and the rising cost of basic essentials. Inflation hit a post-war record of 24.5% in August 1975. » | Richard Partington, Economics correspondent | Tuesday, August 30, 2022
Showing posts with label Goldman Sachs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Goldman Sachs. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 30, 2022
Saturday, October 12, 2019
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Saturday, September 19, 2015
EU Should 'Undermine National Homogeneity' Says UN Migration Chief
Peter Sutherland told peers the future prosperity of many EU states depended on them becoming multicultural.
He also suggested the UK government's immigration policy had no basis in international law.
He was being quizzed by the Lords EU home affairs sub-committee which is investigating global migration.
Mr Sutherland, who is non-executive chairman of Goldman Sachs International and a former chairman of oil giant BP, heads the Global Forum on Migration and Development, which brings together representatives of 160 nations to share policy ideas.
He told the House of Lords committee migration was a "crucial dynamic for economic growth" in some EU nations "however difficult it may be to explain this to the citizens of those states".
'More open'
An ageing or declining native population in countries like Germany or southern EU states was the "key argument and, I hesitate to the use word because people have attacked it, for the development of multicultural states", he added.
"It's impossible to consider that the degree of homogeneity which is implied by the other argument can survive because states have to become more open states, in terms of the people who inhabit them. Just as the United Kingdom has demonstrated."
The UN special representative on migration was also quizzed about what the EU should do about evidence from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that employment rates among migrants were higher in the US and Australia than EU countries.
He told the committee: "The United States, or Australia and New Zealand, are migrant societies and therefore they accommodate more readily those from other backgrounds than we do ourselves, who still nurse a sense of our homogeneity and difference from others.
"And that's precisely what the European Union, in my view, should be doing its best to undermine." » | Brian Wheeler, Political reporter, BBC News | Thursday, June 21, 2012
HT: Roger Savage »
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Lloyd Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, has defended the firm after an employee attacked a "toxic" and "destructive" culture at the leading investment bank that is increasingly focused on making money from clients, in an article in the New York Times.
Greg Smith, who is resigning today as a Goldman Sachs executive director and head of its US equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa after 12 years, wrote:
"I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it. 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."
In a memo to staff, Goldman chief executive Lloyd Blankfein said he was "disappointed to read the assertions... that do not reflect our values, our culture and how the vast majority of people at Goldman Sachs think about the firm".
Mr Blankfein wrote that although it was "not shocking that some people could feel disgruntled" in a company of Goldman's size (it has 30,000 employees) and that the firm is "far from perfect", he expects staff to "find the words you read today foreign from your own day-to-day experiences".
In Mr Smith's article entitled Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs he writes that over the past twelve months he had seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients as “muppets”, sometimes over internal e-mail. Read on and comment » | Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Related »
THE NEW YORK TIMES: 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.
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 world’s 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 Sachs’s success. It revolved around teamwork, integrity, a spirit of humility, and always 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 wasn’t just about making money; 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. » | Greg Smith* | Wednesday, March 14, 2012
* Greg Smith is resigning today as a Goldman Sachs executive director and head of the firm’s United States equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
TELEGRAPH – BLOGS – IAIN MARTIN: A knee in the nuts that means serious trouble for Goldman Sachs: In the New York Times there is an absolutely devastating attack on the culture of Goldman Sachs, by one of its senior executives. He announces that he is resigning today because he has had it with the firm's alleged practices. He criticises the way in which one of the world's largest and most important investment banks now looks after the interests of its clients. ¶ This is what is known as a public relations disaster. » | Iain Martine | Wednesday, March 14, 2012
THE GUARDIAN: Goldman Sachs director quits 'morally bankrupt' Wall Street bank: Greg Smith resigns as executive director of Goldman's European equity derivatives business after devastating attack » | Juliette Garside and Jill Treanor | Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Der spektakuläre Facebook-Deal hat Goldman Sachs den Ruf des Trendsetters eingebracht. Doch jetzt sorgt die US-Investmentbank mit überraschend schlechten Zahlen für negative Schlagzeilen: Das Institut hat im vierten Quartal gut die Hälfte seines Gewinnes eingebüßt - die Aktie rutschte ab.
New York - Mit Spannung haben Börsianer auf die Zahlen von Goldman Sachs gewartet. Doch das Quartalsergebnis der mächtigen Investmentbank enttäuscht die Analysten. Einbußen im Anleihehandel haben der US-Großbank einen kräftigen Dämpfer versetzt. Das Institut büßte im vierten Quartal 2010 gut die Hälfte seines Gewinnes ein. Der Nettogewinn sei auf 2,23 Milliarden Dollar gefallen, teilte die Bank an diesem Mittwoch mit. Zum Vergleich: Im Vorjahresquartal waren es unterm Strich noch 4,79 Milliarden Dollar gewesen. >>> mmq/Reuters/dpa-AFX | Mittwoch, 19. Januar 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Goldman Sachs fourth-quarter profits slide: Goldman Sachs will pay its employees almost 10bn pounds in pay and bonuses even as annual profits at the bank fell. >>> Richard Blackden, New York | Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
ZEIT ONLINE: Goldman Sachs bringt sich mit dem Einstieg bei Facebook in eine strategisch günstige Position. Aber ist die Internetplattform wirklich 50 Milliarden Dollar wert?Der Chef der Internet-Plattform Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, wirbt bei jeder Gelegenheit für mehr Offenheit: "Die Menschen teilen ihre Informationen immer schneller und offener. Das ist die neue soziale Norm." Nur wenn es um die Zahlen seiner Firma geht, gibt sich Zuckerberg verschlossen. Bis heute hat das Unternehmen keine belastbaren Zahlen über Umsatz, Gewinn oder Cash-Flow vorgelegt. Einen Börsengang, der für mehr Transparenz sorgen würde, lehnte Zuckerberg bisher kategorisch ab.
Die Intransparenz schadet ihm offenbar nicht: 500 Millionen Dollar zahlen die Investmentbank Goldman Sachs und der russische Investor Digital Sky Technologies für ein einziges Prozent an Facebook. Damit verdoppelt Zuckerberg sein rechnerisches Vermögen auf knapp 14 Milliarden Dollar. Das Portal, dessen Gründer und oberster Stratege gerade einmal 26 Jahre alt ist, ist auf dem Papier inzwischen 50 Milliarden Dollar wert - mehr als die Deutsche Bank. Weiter lesen und einen Kommentar schreiben >>> Von Rolf Benders | Klaus Stratmann | Ulf Sommer | Christoph Kapalschinski | Hans-Peter Siebenhaar | Dienstag, 04. Januar 2011
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Goldman Sachs has angrily defended itself against a public campaign that claims the bank is exacerbating global food crises through its commodity trading operations.
The Wall Street bank has dismissed as "disingenuous and downright misleading" the conclusions by the World Development Movement that its activities have led to increased food prices, food riots, and poverty around the world.
The WDM, a London-based non-governmental organisation, on Monday started an on-line campaign to persuade the public to report Goldman to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) as the biggest bank allegedly distorting commodities markets.
The organisers said they want to put pressure on authorities to limit the ability of banks and hedge funds to trade in commodity futures.
The move came as Armajaro, a hedge fund run by Anthony Ward, was accused of cornering the cocoa market and pushing up prices after buying £650m, or 240,000 tonnes, of cocoa beans.
The campaign follows the publication of a report by the WDM called The Great Hunger Lottery: how banking speculation causes food crises, in which the lobby group accuses banks and hedge funds of "gambling on hunger." The report concludes that commodity trading is "dangerous, immoral and indefensible." >>> Louise Armitstead | Tuesday, July 20, 2010
MAIL ONLINE: Goldman Sachs is today expected to earmark almost £6billion for its annual salary and bonus pool, handing staff a 15 per cent pay rise.
The windfall means Goldman bankers will take home an average of £356,000 this year.
Many senior deal-makers and star traders will pocket seven or even eight-figure packages, despite the bank's pivotal role in the financial crisis.
The payouts - to be confirmed in the group's financial results for the first half of the year - are likely to anger taxpayers here and in the U.S.
They come days after the Wall Street giant agreed to pay a £356million penalty to settle one of the most explosive fraud cases in U.S. banking history.
Goldman cut a face-saving deal with America's financial watchdog after it was charged with tricking clients into buying an investment that was designed to collapse.
Government-controlled Royal Bank of Scotland lost about £550million in this way, effectively leaving British taxpayers out of pocket.
Goldman is expected to set aside as much as 45 per cent of its first-half turnover for salary and bonuses.
Although markets have been shaken by the eurozone debt crisis, Goldman's turnover is forecast to hit £13.2billion, meaning £5.9billion will be channelled into the pay pool.
For the typical worker at Goldman, this equates to some £178,000 for just six months work. >>> Simon Duke | Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Friday, April 30, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: US federal prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into whether Goldman Sachs Group Inc or its employees committed securities fraud in connection with its mortgage trading.
The investigation by the Manhattan US Attorney's Office, which is at a preliminary stage, stemmed from a referral from the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The SEC already has filed a civil fraud lawsuit against Goldman, charging that it hid vital information from investors about a mortgage-related security.
A spokesman for the office of the Manhattan US Attorney said she could "neither confirm nor deny" the existence of any Goldman investigation. >>> | Friday, April 30, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
TIMES ONLINE: Goldman Sachs has announced it will pay its bankers a share of $5.5 billion (£3.5 billion) for three months work just hours after the Financial Services Authority launched a formal investigation into the US bank.
Staff will receive average compensation of $166,000 each for the first quarter of 2010 after the bank beat expectations with a $3.5 billion net profit.
Goldman Sachs has seen $10 billion wiped from its market value since the Securities and Exchange Commission launched a $1 billion lawsuit against the bank, alleging the bank and one of its vice presidents, Fabrice Tourre, committed securities fraud.
Today, Britain’s FSA said that it has decided to start a “formal enforcement investigation” into Goldman Sachs International, its London-based business, after an initial review of the US case.
The bankers’ payouts beat the start of last year, when average remuneration for the first quarter was $149,000. However, this quarter’s pay is still considerably below the $226,000 allocated to each worker in the first quarter of bank’s record year of 2007.
The amount Goldman put aside for pay this quarter is equivalent to 43 per cent of its $12.8 billion net revenue, the lowest first-quarter compensation ratio in the bank’s history.
In a statement today, Goldman’s chairman and chief executive Lloyd Blankfein alluded to the scandal surrounding the bank. Even before Friday’s shock charges, Goldman had already been criticised for accepting a $10 billion state bailout then paying out billions of dollars in bonuses to its employees.
Mr Blankfein said: “In light of recent events involving the firm, we appreciate the support of our clients and shareholders and the dedication and commitment of our people”. >>> Christine Seib | Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
LOS ANGELES TIMES: The civil charges relate to Goldman Sachs' creation of collateralized debt obligations -- a complex, mortgage-backed security. 'The product was new and complex but the deception and conflicts are old and simple,' a Securities and Exchange Commission official says in a statement.
Reporting from New York
Goldman Sachs is being charged with fraud by federal regulators for its work in creating subprime mortgage bonds before the financial crisis.
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced on Friday morning that it was bringing civil charges against Goldman and one of the bank's vice presidents in Manhattan federal court. >>> Nathaniel Popper | Friday, April 16, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Goldman Sachs charged with $1bn fraud over toxic sub-prime securities: Securities and exchange commission charges Goldman Sachs with conflict of interest in sub-prime mortgage asset sales >>> Andrew Clark | Friday, April 16, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Dow hit by Goldman fraud charges: The Dow Jones ended a six-day rally on Friday, hit by civil fraud charges against Goldman Sachs and investor disappointed over trading at Google. >>> AP | Friday, April 16, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Monday, February 01, 2010
TIMES ONLINE: Goldman Sachs, the world’s richest investment bank, could be about to pay its chief executive a bumper bonus of up to $100 million in defiance of moves by President Obama to take action against such payouts.
Bankers in Davos for the World Economic Forum (WEF) told The Times yesterday they understood that Lloyd Blankfein and other top Goldman bankers outside Britain were set to receive some of the bank’s biggest-ever payouts. “This is Lloyd thumbing his nose at Obama,” said a banker at one of Goldman’s rivals.
Goldman Sachs is becoming the focus of an increasingly acrimonious political and financial showdown over the payment of multimillion-pound bonuses.Last week the US President described bonuses paid out by some banks as “the height of irresponsibility” and “shameful”.
“The American people understand that we have a big hole to dig ourselves out of, but they do not like the idea that people are digging a bigger hole, even as they are being asked to fill it up,” he said last week. Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs 'Expecting $100 Million Bonus' >>> Helen Power in Davos | Monday, February 01, 2010
Sunday, November 08, 2009
THE SUNDAY TIMES: Number 85 Broad Street, a dull, rust-coloured office block in lower Manhattan, doesn’t look like a place to stop and stare, and that’s just the way the people who work there like it. The men and women who arrive in the watery dawn sunshine, dressed in Wall Street black, clutching black briefcases and BlackBerrys, are very, very private. They walk quickly from their black Lincoln town cars to the lobby, past, well, nothing, really. There’s no name plate on the building, no sign on the front desk and the armed policeman stationed outside isn’t saying who works there. There’s a good reason for the secrecy. Number 85 Broad Street, New York, NY 10004, is where the money is. All of it.
It’s the site of the best cash-making machine that global capitalism has ever produced, and, some say, a political force more powerful than governments. The people who work behind the brass-trim glass doors make more money than some countries do. They are the rainmakers’ rainmakers, the biggest swinging dicks in the financial jungle. Their assets total $1 trillion, their annual revenues run into the tens of billions, and their profits are in the billions, which they distribute liberally among themselves. Average pay this recessionary year for the 30,000 staff is expected to be a record $700,000. Top earners will get tens of millions, several hundred thousand times more than a cleaner at the firm. When they have finished getting "filthy rich by 40", as the company saying goes, these alpha dogs don’t put their feet up. They parachute into some of the most senior political posts in the US and beyond, prompting accusations that they "rule the world". Number 85 Broad Street is the home of Goldman Sachs.The world’s most successful investment bank likes to hide behind the tidal wave of money that it generates and sends crashing over Manhattan, the City of London and most of the world’s other financial capitals. But now the dark knights of banking are being forced, blinking, into the cold light of day. The public, politicians and the press blame bankers’ reckless trading for the credit crunch and, as the most successful bank still standing, Goldman is their prime target. Here, politicians and commentators compete to denounce Goldman in ever more robust terms — "robber barons", "economic vandals", "vulture capitalists". Vince Cable, the Lib Dem Treasury spokesman, contrasts the bank’s recent record results — profits of $3.2 billion in the last quarter alone — and its planned bumper bonus payments with what has happened to ordinary people’s jobs and incomes in 2009.
It’s even worse in the US. There, Rolling Stone magazine ran a story that described Goldman as "a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money". In his latest documentary, Capitalism: A Love Story, Michael Moore drives up to 85 Broad Street in an armoured Brinks money van, leaps out carrying a sack with a giant dollar sign on it, looks up at the building and yells: "We’re here to get the money back for the American people!"
Goldman’s reputation is suddenly as toxic as the credit default swaps and other inexplicably exotic financial instruments it used to buy with glee. That’s bad for the one thing it values more than anything else: business. Being the prime target for popular and political outrage could put Goldman first in line for draconian new regulation. So it has, reluctantly, decided that the time has come to speak out, to fight its corner. That’s how, on one of those bright autumnal New York mornings when anything seems possible — even an invitation to break bread with the masters of the universe — I find myself walking past the security guard who held up Michael Moore and into the building with no name. I'm doing 'God's work'. Meet Mr Goldman Sachs >>> John Arlidge | Sunday, November 08, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: In a SPIEGEL interview, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, 55, discusses his astronomical bonuses, the mistakes and failures of his bank prior to the start of the global financial crisis and his proposals for better regulating financial markets.
SPIEGEL: Mr. Blankfein, two years ago, your $67.9 million bonus was the largest ever paid to a Wall Street banker. You recently said that you could understand the anger that people are expressing over inflated bonuses. How are we to understand this?
Blankfein: I think people legitimately question whether compensation is tied to performance and, looking back, they see that some people were enriched but did not seem to have any alignment with their shareholders. A large part of the compensation paid to our senior people, including mine, is paid in shares, which may be worth less or more depending on our performance well after they were granted. This is what our shareholders want and we are convinced of this alignment of interests.
SPIEGEL: Still, $67.9 million is an astronomical sum. Is there any way to justify this?
Blankfein: Our board of directors sets the pay of our most senior executives, including mine. They tie pay to the firm's performance and I believe we have established a strong track record of correlating growth in revenues to growth in compensation. The real test is whether compensation is reduced when performance changes. For example, in 1994, the firm made a loss and the partners had to pay money back to the firm so that the staff could be paid. And, in 2008, which was a very difficult year as you know, I was paid no bonus, even though the firm was profitable.
SPIEGEL: That all sounds very rational. But don't such payments promote greed as the primary motivator?
Blankfein: I think we all know that greed can drive behavior, but it tends to be short term and ultimately destructive. Our leadership team stands out because most of our people have built their whole career at the firm and stayed through many years and many changes in the market. When our people leave they tend to go on to other positions -- whether in government or other forms of public service -- that no one would do if their were motives were financial. Those characteristics don't make me think of "greed."
SPIEGEL: So only modest, good people work for Goldman Sachs? We hardly believe that.
Blankfein: I have stated my honest view of things.
SPIEGEL: This week in Pittsburgh, the G-20 will discuss stricter regulation of bonus payments. Based on what you have said, you believe that such efforts will do nothing to prevent future crises?
Blankfein: That is not what I said. The incentive aspect played a role in the crisis, but it was not the primary cause -- I think you have to look at the macroeconomic backdrop, the concentrations of risk in certain institutions and the fact that many, including regulators, should in hindsight have had better information and acted sooner to address capital and liquidity shortfalls. >>> | Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
MAIL Online: City bankers are set to pocket huge bonuses again, despite bringing the world economy to the brink of ruin.
Goldman Sachs yesterday promised thousands of staff - 5,500 of them in the UK - a 33 per cent pay boost after it returned to profit.
Other banks are expected to follow suit after benefiting from trillions of pounds in government bailouts.
Last night angry MPs condemned what they said was 'business as usual' for City fat cats. Goldman Sachs was accused of 'taking the mickey' out of taxpayers with such massive bonuses during a global recession.
The Wall Street bank, bailed-out with £6.7billion from the U.S. government only last October, has raised its bonus and pay pool for the first three months of this year by 17 per cent, to £3.1billion. Sachs of Gold: Six Months after Bailout Costing Billions, Greedy Bankers Reward Themselves with a NEW Round of Huge Bonuses >>> By Simon Duke and Olinka Koster | Wednesday, April 5, 2009
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