Late Lunchtime Links: Redundancies and the great and terrible groundscraper of Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs is making redundancies. According to various sources, it's eliminating 5% of its trading staff. This is neither terribly abnormal (although it seems strange it didn't do this before paying bonuses) nor abnormally terrible - as long as they're sufficiently junior, the redundant staff might be able to get jobs at Otkritie.

More interesting, is the Evening Standard's assertion that Goldman is possibly plotting the construction of an enormous 'groundscraper' on Farringdon Street. A building rather than an excavator, this groundscraper could even house lots more Goldman staff. The Evening Standard asked Goldman about its postulations. Goldman declined to comment.

Lloyd Blankfein might be planning to step down at the end of the year. (Reuters)

Goldman Sachs: Your Lloyd will never leave you. (Reuters)

It's because Gilbert Saiz is a former Goldman Sachs specimen that he does so well. (MoneyistheWay)

Chief risk officer Nathan Bostock was the third-highest executive at RBS, earning 3.36m. (Telegraph)

Credit Agricole's investment bank might exit a few countries. (Financial Times)

Barclays Wealth has hired 14 investment representatives in the US. (Wall Street Journal)

Cheviot Asset Management has hired five people from Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management. (Financial News)

"There will be growth [in investment banking] but it will be selective," Jean-Paul Chifflet said. (Financial Times)

Oswald Grubel admits he underestimated the chances of reviving UBS's fixed income business. (Reuters)

My office is like a high school, and I'm not in the 'in-crowd. (TheGlobeandMail)'

California's nuclear radiation freakout. (The Daily Beast)'

Tips on how to find a new planet to live on. (TechnologyReview)'

People are opening trust funds for their pets. (Financial News)'