The weirdest new MDs at Goldman Sachs. Look who’s cutting equities staff

There was a time when most MDs at Goldman Sachs had one thing in common: they were all generating big revenues for the bank. One ex-managing director (MD) at Goldman recently told us revenue generation was the only reason he was promoted (“I don’t share values with most people at GS”). However, Goldman’s brand new list of 2015 MDs suggests generating revenues is less important than it used to be.

Of the 425 people on the 2015 list, the Financial Times reports that 135, or 32%, work on non-revenue generating roles in ‘the federation’ – Goldman’s name for things like internal audit, technology and compliance. The last time Goldman Sachs promoted MDs in 2013 (when there were only 280 people on the list) just 28% were federation staff. Non-revenue generators are inveigling their way in.

Who are they? This year’s MD list includes people like Alexis Vassilakas, head of the ‘Central Industrialization Group’, which develops technology to render Goldman more efficient. There’s also Jenny Meng, chief risk officer and CFO at Goldman Sachs Gao Hua in Beijing, Manju Madhavan, a ‘firmwide strategist’ in New York, Teresa Kingwood, head of commodities technology in London, or Jennifer Krevitt, global head of human capital management for the investment management division in New York.

There are a few curiosities among revenue generating promotions too. Take Tim Quandt, a Goldman investment banker who quit the firm in 2010 to found a fund of private equity funds, only to come back three years later and just earn a promotion a few years later.

Separately, no one is safe. Equities salespeople and traders may have had a good year, but that doesn’t mean they’ll fall foul of banks’ attempts to cut costs. Financial News reports that Nomura has put 16 traders, or 5% of its equities division in London at risk of being laid off.

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Still Recruiting (eFinancialCareers)

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Millennial MDs (Dealbreaker)

Nearly a third of the Goldman Sachs Group’s 425 newly minted managing directors are millennials, or people born after 1980. Forty percent were hired as analysts. Roughly 21 percent are former summer interns.

Multinational, Multitasking MDs (Twitter) 

20% of Goldman’s new MD class have worked in multiple regions. 30% have worked in multiple Goldman Sachs divisions.

Percentage Decline (Financial Times) 

MDs, one rung below the ultimate prize of partnership, will now comprise 6.7 per cent of people at Goldman, down from 7.4 per cent in 2014.

Goldman Mines Macquarie (Financial News)  

Goldman Sachs hired a mining strategist from Macquarie.

RBS Cuts (Reuters) 

RBS is cutting costs in its investment bank by…75%.

RBS Expects Fall (Cityam)  

RBS expects revenues in its investment bank to fall by 65%.

New APAC Boss (WSJ) 

Deutsche Bank just promoted an Australian banker as head of its investment bank in Asia Pac.

Deutsche’s Leaders (Business Insider) 

Meet the new heads of Deutsche’s investment bank.

Forced To Train (Financial Times) 

Now that investment banks don’t have prop traders, hedge funds are having to train their own graduates instead of poaching trainees from banks.

Saddest Bankers (Financial Times) 

The unhappiest bankers work for Credit Suisse and BNP Paribas.

Lots Of Leave (Bloomberg) 

J.P. Morgan trader achieves year of paid leave.

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