

Why aren't clients fleeing Goldman Sachs? - mattraibert
http://www.slate.com/id/2299632/

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EugeneG
I think there are two main reasons.

The first is that Goldman has two types of clients: banking and trading.
Banking clients are generally unaffected by Goldman's trading misdeeds. These
are very different businesses. Investment banking does not happen on a trading
floor, very different services, very different people etc. Everything is
different.

The second is that professional trading clients understand that Goldman is not
there to look out for them in deals. Goldman acts as a counterparty, not as a
fiduciary advisor who is obligated to fight for the clients' best interest.

I think there is a common misconception that Goldman acts sort of like a
manufacturer of widgets, that these widgets turned out to be broken, and that
Goldman should now be held responsible sort of like a Chinese manufacturer of
poison-laced toys. The Goldman-counterparty relationship is very different.

