Today May 7, 2010, the Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) shareholders meeting was probably the most watched and scrutinized in all its history. With the SEC filing suit against the investment bank on April 16th, criminal charges being investigated, with Blankfein going to Capital Hill to be deposed in front of some tough Senators, and the stock down 20%+ from just weeks ago, this is mildly put, a very difficult time for Goldman Sachs....
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Hi I work in the industry and I think it’s important to note that SEC Chief Accountant James Kroeker testified last week (http://www.webcpa.com/debits_credits/Finance-Execs-Fret-over-Accounting-Standards-Overload-54317-1.html) , “Based on the requests, no information has come to our attention that would lead the staff to conclude that inappropriate practices were widespread.” I think that the recent discovery that Bank of America and Citicorp both used balance sheet management, including the use of repo agreements, shows that this practice was, and is, widespread within the banking community. (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704792104575264731572977378.html?mod=WSJ_Markets_LEFTTopNews))
The SEC must be blind if they cannot find that it is a common practice among banks. Just look at the facts, including data from the Federal Reserve Bank. In early April, the WSJ (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052702304830104575172280848939898.html#mod=todays_us_money_and_investing) reported that the New York Federal Reserve reported that big banks were masking risk levels by lowering debt before public disclosure. It also highlighted banks' levels of short-term financing in the repurchase, or "repo," market.
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