A senior executive at Goldman Sachs has admitted that the investment bank should have acted with more transparency when carrying out currency swaps for Greece in 2001.
Speaking to the UK's Treasury Select Committee, Gerald Corrigan, a managing director at Goldman Sachs, stated that the company had stuck to the rules of the European Community in place at the time regarding such transactions.
The complex currency swap deal helped Greece reduce its debt level by $3.2 billion – a fact that European Union (EU) regulators have only recently discovered.
"With the benefit of hindsight, it seems to be very clear that the standards of transparency could have and probably should have been higher," Mr Corrigan admitted.
He added that Goldman Sachs was "by no means the only bank involved" in the currency swaps for the Greek government.
Greece is currently under the financial spotlight as fears grow in Europe that its stricken economy may be in need of bailout funding from its EU partners.
No comments:
Post a Comment