Goldman Sachs is seeking to acquire up to $50 billion in assets from ailing US banks as part of its push into commercial banking, Goldman executives say, according to the Financial Times.

Goldman and Morgan Stanley last week said they would give up their status as independent investment banks and apply to become bank holding companies, a change that would subject them to stricter regulation by the US Federal Reserve.

The change marked the end of an era, since Goldman and Morgan Stanley were the only two big investment banks left on Wall Street following the forced sale of Bear Stearns to JPMorgan Chase, the collapse of Lehman Brothers and Bank of America’s pending deal to acquire Merrill Lynch.

Goldman is moving quickly to profit from its push into traditional banking by expanding the activities of its

Utah industrial loan corporation, a type of bank that is regulated by authorities in that western US state.

Goldman is moving to shift $150 billion of assets to the balance sheet of the Utah bank. These would include loans to private clients and other assets that would be found more typically at a traditional commercial bank.

Goldman also plans to talk to US regulators to identify up to $50 billion in assets it could buy from troubled lenders. These, too, would be put within the Utah bank.

The moves would dramatically increase the size of Goldman’s Utah bank, which has about $20 billion in deposits and $25.7 billion in assets.

Goldman’s rapid push to build up its Utah bank underscores its determination to acquire cheap assets – and potentially ailing banks – even as it reduces its leverage as it transforms itself into a bank holding company.