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Goldman Sachs has fired several executives in its transaction banking unit after they breached its communications policy, in a sign of a wider crackdown after banks were hit with $2 billion in fines last year, according to reports.
The Wall Street bank
GS,
has let go of several executives in its transaction banking over the violations, Reuters reported, telling employees in a memo that they were “terminated” after “losing confidence in them following serious violations of firm policies”.
Hari Moorthy, a partner and head of transaction banking, was among the Goldman employees who departed, Reuters reported. Philip Berlinski, Akila Raman-Vaseghi and Luc Teboul will take over managing the unit.
Goldman was one of a dozen Wall Street banks to be hit with fines totalling $2 billion last year by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for employees’ unauthorised use of WhatsApp. Banks have cracked down on mobile phone usage among employees in the wake of the fines and many docked bonuses for executives last year as a result.
Goldman was contacted for comment.
In August, Goldman Sachs was also told to pay a $5.5 million penalty from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission over charges related to its failure to properly record and retain audio files of trading communications during the pandemic.
Goldman’s communications policy states that employees need to use firm-approved communications channels for any work-related business, the memo said.
The transaction banking business is a new unit for Goldman as it looks to diversify away from its traditional Wall Street strengths of trading and investment banking. Launched in 2020, it initially provides cash management services to clients, but remains much smaller than dominant players in the sector including Citigroup and JPMorgan.
