Goldman fires head of transaction banking over communications policy violations

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Goldman Sachs has fired several employees at its emerging institutional cash management business over what the Wall Street bank described as “serious violations” of its communications policies.

The firings are another example of the crackdown on Wall Street over employee communications. Banks, including Goldman Sachs, have paid hundreds of millions of dollars in fines for past violations, including using unapproved messaging apps like WhatsApp to conduct corporate business, risking violating government-mandated record-keeping practices.

In a memo to Goldman employees on Wednesday seen by the Financial Times, the bank told employees that “the company has terminated the employment of several leaders in transaction banking (TxB) after losing confidence in them following serious violations of company policies.” .

Four employees were fired, including Hari Murthy, a partner at Goldman and global head of transaction banking, according to a person familiar with the matter. Philipp Berlinski, Akila Raman and Luc Thibault will now lead the day-to-day management of transaction banking.

Morty did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent via LinkedIn. Goldman said in a statement that it would not comment on individual disciplinary matters.

“In general, we take our communications policy seriously, and we expect all of our employees to adhere to it,” the bank said, adding that Goldman “remains fully committed to our transaction banking business.”

Reuters had previously reported news of the dismissals.

Under Goldman’s communications policy, employees are required to communicate company-related business via communication channels approved by the Bank.

Transaction banking is one of Goldman’s new businesses, which it launched in 2020. It primarily provides cash management services to corporate clients. It also provides banking infrastructure to fintech companies that do not have a US banking license, but that side of the business has faced scrutiny from regulators, the Financial Times reported last month.

Record keeping on Wall Street has emerged as a major problem in recent years, after regulators revealed that banks failed to track thousands of texts and emails sent on personal phones or through unapproved apps.

Goldman was one of a group of banks that agreed last year to pay $200 million in fines to the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for record-keeping violations.

Many banks now require employees to install Movius on their phones, an app that allows compliance officers to monitor calls, text messages and WhatsApp conversations with customers.