Jul 13, 2009

Return to profits for Goldman

The story is taken from the New York Times. It turns out that, while signs of economic recovery are weak, Goldman Sachs is already making profits. Not only the Bank has already repaid the bailout money received from the Treasury (approximately 10 Billion $), but it is also said to have registered a profit of around 2 Billion $ between March and June. Part of these revenues will probably be returned as bonuses to its employees. So people wonder, how do they do that?
As the article reports, Risk Management is the key. It means that, while people are scared to take risks, Goldmand does it, and it pays off very well. I heard once a London banker describing Goldman's approach to Risk management as "either they blow up, or they swim in cash". So far they did not blow up (with the Trasury's help), and now they swim again in cash. The question is then: are we back to the pre-crisis level in terms of risk taking? Are the lessons from the crisis un-learnt? People are waiting to see what the most successful bank is going to do next.

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