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Monday, March 1, 2010

Goldman Sachs unpopular due to its success, ex-CEO claims

Investment bank Goldman Sachs is unpopular because of its success, a former-chief executive officer (CEO) has claimed.

Jon Corzine, who also used to be chairman of the bank, made the comments during an interview with Bloomberg.

He told the news provider: “When you’re successful it brings envy.”

“People are broadly frustrated with the financial institutions, and since it is the leader of the industry and has shown great success over a long period of time, I think it’s more vulnerable.”

However, Mr Corzine added that bankers should also be more humble “in the overall scheme of public society” due to the anger provoked by the size of many compensation schemes unveiled by banks which have used state bailouts to remain in business.

Profits for Goldman Sachs during 2009 reached $13.4 billion after it benefitted from $10 billion worth of taxpayer aid as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program during the financial crisis.

“People are very frustrated, angry about the compensation issues, particularly in the context of what people perceive as bailouts of each and every one of the folks that participated.”

Goldman Sachs is currently discussing the details of credit swaps undertaken with Greece during 2001 with the
European Union following allegations that it helped the country hide the full extent of its debt from regulators.

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