Family Office
Goldman Sachs chief investment officers up stakes
Nick Spencer and Paul Marson join a small exodus from the Wall
Street bank. Goldman Sachs' wealth-management division lost two
CIOs in one go earlier this month. Nick Spencer, CIO for the
bank's U.S. private-client business, and Paul Marson, who filled
a similar role for Goldman's international wealth business, have
left -- seemingly in a bit of a huff.
Rumor has it
Goldman isn't saying why Spencer and Marson left, but rumor --
encapsulated in report by Financial News Online -- has it
the duo had, as they say, issues with the way Sharmin
Mossavar-Rahmani, the bank's global investment chief, is running
things. Spencer and Marson, dab hands at alternative strategies,
are said to have contributed pretty significantly to the profit
surge Goldman's asset-management business has enjoyed over the
past few years.
The departures of Spencer and Marson follow a re-org at Goldman
that saw the creation of 10 new country and regional divisions in
Europe and the Middle East. That, along with the decision to
change pay structures, has proved controversial.
More substantially
Nicholas Sarkis and Philippe Lamis, advisors in France, left
Goldman, as did distribution co-head Sameer Sain. Alexander
Classen, head of Goldman's Swiss business, ditched out earlier
this year to lead Morgan Stanley's high net worth business in
Switzerland.
Goldman is hitting back, however. The bank recently recruited a
Middle East team led by Farid Pasha, who used to be at Swiss bank
UBS . René Mottas, former head of European business at Credit
Suisse's Clariden private bank, has replaced Sain.
Goldman is trying to expand its wealth-management business on two
fronts. First, it wants to rake in more $10-million-plus clients
in established markets. At the same time, the New York-based bank
is mounting a campaign to win assets from the emerging world's
growing millionaire population.
The traditional core of Goldman's private-client business is a
blue-chip list of powerful business leaders, many of whom run
companies advised by Goldman's investment-banking unit. -FWR
.
