Finance

Goldman Sachs is going through a massive transformation under CEO David Solomon

  • Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon is taking big steps to transform the bank.
  • Goldman has been pushing into consumer banking and wealth management.
  • But a slew of partners have jumped ship, and Marcus has seen a big talent exodus.
  • Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories.

Goldman Sachs is going through some big changes under CEO David Solomon.

The Wall Street bank has taken steps involving transparency and inclusion to change up its culture. After its first-ever investor day in early 2020, the firm is executing on targets including multi-year cost-cutting plans. And it’s making big pushes into wealth management and consumer banking.

Goldman smashed expectations and set a revenue record in the first quarter, and its stock price has soared. Investors and Wall Street analysts are singing Solomon’s praises.

But the firm’s top ranks have seen almost unprecedented turnover, with six members of the management committee departing over the past year.

Newsletter
An inside look at the billion-dollar deals, big ideas, and personalities dominating Wall Street.
LoadingSomething is loading.

And junior bankers have been so overworked that they put together two presentations to express their unhappiness to management. Engineers in a consumer division that Goldman spent billions to build have quit in droves.

Here’s a rundown of the must-know news at Goldman, including the latest hires and exits, as well as deep dives on its Marcus consumer bank and wealth-management push.


Who are the top leaders at Goldman?

Goldman Sachs org chart 2x1

Cindy Ord/Getty; Paul Morigi/Getty; Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty; Jemal Countess/Getty; Shayanne Gal/Business Insider

Goldman in September shuffled its setup, creating a new standalone consumer division that includes its Marcus lending unit as well as its wealth-management and private-banking businesses.

Strategy chief Stephanie Cohen and Tucker York, the head of the private-wealth business, were tapped to colead the new consumer and wealth management division and the changes went into effect on Jan. 1.

The new setup matches the way Goldman reports financial results, a change the firm made in 2019 to better align with how Solomon wanted investors to think about the firm. Goldman now has four divisions: consumer and wealth management, asset management, investment banking, and global markets.

Read more:


The lastest news on Goldman’s Marcus

Marcus Goldman Sachs

Marcus offers savings and credit products online and through its app.
Reuters

Goldman Sachs has built its consumer-banking arm into a $1 billion business over the past five years.

But it’s seen a wave of recent departures including the exits of top Marcus bosses Omer Ismail and David Stark. And JPMorgan has poached the head of product at Marcus to join the bank’s digital and product leadership team for consumer and community banking, while CNBC first reported in May that Sherry Ann Mohan, chief financial officer for Goldman’s consumer business, is leaving to serve as CFO of JPMorgan’s business banking division beginning in August.

Insiders explained how Goldman Sachs’ hard-charging culture had contributed to exhaustion and high turnover within Marcus, and a Goldman spokesperson told us that the firm is eyeing beefing up the ranks by hiring some 200 to 300 new engineers.

Read more:


Goldman’s wealth-management push

Meena Flynn and John Mallory of Goldman Sachs

Meena Flynn and John Mallory co-head the private wealth business at Goldman Sachs.
Goldman Sachs

Goldman, a firm synonymous with enormous wealth, has in recent years tried to reshape itself as a bank that can count someone with just $1,000 to invest as a client just as it has long done business with large companies and the very wealthy.

It launched Marcus Invest, a robo-advisor with a $1,000 minimum, earlier this year. And it has reorganized how its wealth businesses are situated entirely, creating a new internal consumer and wealth management division that went into effect at the start of this year. Goldman has some 800 advisors within private wealth globally.


Goldman’s dealmakers

When Goldman announced its latest class of partners, one group was particularly well-represented on the list. Seven of the 19 investment bankers elevated to partner status came from the bank’s powerhouse technology, media, and telecommunications group.

The group has also seen some shakeups in recent months. Goldman Sachs veteran Gregg Lemkau, co-head of the firm’s investment banking division since 2017 and a member of Goldman’s management committee, left at the end of 2020. Instacart has tapped Nick Giovanni, Goldman Sachs’ head of the global technology, media and telecom group, to be its CFO. And in September, Goldman Sachs named new leadership in its M&A group.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Most Popular

To Top