Morning Coffee: Government Sachs or Goldman cast offs? J.P. Morgan is NOT moving 2,500 jobs to Poland

Former Goldman Sachs employees often end up in U.S. government positions. Goldman is usually proud of this, seeing it as a “public service” reflective of the expertise it hires and develops who then go on impart the Goldman-way to Washington.

But the latest contingent of Goldmanites in Trump’s administration are not necessarily going off with well-wishes from their former employer. Goldman has refused to make any sort of derogatory statements on the fact that Gary Cohn (director of the National Economic Council) Steve Bannon (chief strategist), Steven Mnuchin (Trump’s pick for treasury secretary) and Anthony Scaramucci (assistant to the president) all worked for the bank.

But New York Magazine has spoken to a Goldman Sachs executive who isn’t overly impressed with the list of characters in Trump’s administration.

Cohn, as the former COO and president of Goldman, is seen as the most “sane” and is “not going to do anything to screw up his reputation,” they said. But Cohn was keen to get out, he suggests.

“Gary wanted the big job; he didn’t get it. His relationship with Lloyd was pretty strained at the end,” he told NY Mag.

“Scaramucci was laid off. Mnuchin, he doesn’t have any love for the place; his brother didn’t make partner, he was always in his father’s shadow. None of these people were superstars that someone pulled away. Every one of them was dysfunctional,” the Goldman executive told NY Mag.

In fairness, Scaramucci was fired and then rehired by Goldman Sachs before leaving of his own accord. But you get the point.

Separately, Poland has emerged as an unlikely location for Brexit-related jobs exiting London. Reports emerged in local press that J.P. Morgan had been in talks to move around 2,500 jobs to Warsaw as it looks to “escape” Brexit.

J.P. Morgan has had an office in Warsaw since 1995, but it later told Financial News that any decisions to move more jobs out there are not related to the UK’s decision to leave the EU. Maybe jobs were going there anyway.

Meanwhile:

30 years in investment banking and then switching to private equity. The challenges (Bloomberg)

Junior trader unclear on whether spoofing was bad, or his attempt at spoofing was bad (Bloomberg View)

“Paris appeals, but what about the labour laws?” says one senior banker. “And if we take advantage of the tax-free deals that are on offer, they’ll be burning piles of tyres in La Défense. (Evening Standard)

Average pay for fund managers now just $99k (Financial Times)

Time for researchers to move to independent boutiques (Financial News)

The City needs a new deal with the EU, not regulatory equivalence (WSJ)

Recruiter SThree says banking vacancies have fallen by 20% since Brexit (Financial Times)

“We didn’t go into the physics kindergarten and steal a basket of children. It just happened.” (Wired)

The full list of new MDs at Morgan Stanley (Morgan Stanley)

Why are you miserable at work? You expectations are too high (Financial Times)

The horror of trying Donald Trump’s diet (Vice)

Contact: pclarke@efinancialcareers.com

Photo: Getty Images