Goldman Sachs: Financials Ride Trump Train Higher
The Goldman Sachs Group is an American multinational financial company that provides financial services such as investment management, securities and is involved in investment banking. Investment banking accounts for about 21% of the group’s revenue. It gained a reputation as a white knight against hostile takeovers. It is one of the leading M&A forms and frequently tops the Thomson Financial league tables in size of transactions.
Goldman’s Business
It performs various activities such as financial advisory, underwriting etcetera. Investing and lending activities included 16% of its revenue while Institutional client services such as currency and commodities, equities trading accounts for 45% of its total revenue. It is a primary dealer in U.S Treasury securities market. It was founded in 1869 and is headquartered at New York City.
In August 2012, Goldman Sachs created the first social impact bond to support therapy for 16-18 year olds incarcerated on Rikers Island. It has implemented internal policies to address global warming and climate change. It has given around $119 million in grants since 1999 to promote youth education. It was ranked as one of the best places to work for by Fortune magazine and it supports employee philanthropic efforts. As a result the employees are highly loyal to the organisation.
Mortgage Market Criticism
As a result, the employees are highly loyal to the organization. Goldman Sachs has also been criticised as being responsible for the collapse of the mortgage market. It faced investigations from the Congress, the Justice Department and the SEC which it had to settle. It was alleged to have misled investors. Goldman Sachs has denied the allegations and stated that its customers were aware of the bets. It has been accused of various other ethical violations including insider trader based on information obtained from the U.S government and working to
Goldman Sachs has denied the allegations and stated that its customers were aware of the bets. It has been accused of various other ethical violations including insider trader based on information obtained from the U.S government and working together with dictatorial regimes and increasing prices of commodities through futures speculation. It was accused of helping Greece hide its debt by creating a special credit default swap to cover the high risk of Greece’s national debt.
Goldman Sachs has donated money to both major American political parties during election cycles as well as the candidates and the super PACs of both parties. In 2016, Goldman employees donated $371,245 to the Republican National Committee and $301,119 to the Hilary Clinton presidential campaign but top employees were forbidden from donating to Donald Trump.