Sure, things aren’t like they used to be. Goldman Sachs is a public company, and one that’s facing some tough times, at that. Salaries aren’t what they used to be. Results aren’t what they used to be. The failson of one of the bank’s legends is still Treasury Secretary while Gary Cohn flamed out. It offers bank accounts and credit cards to the masses, for heaven’s sake!
But this. This is a step too craven and too far.
An overhaul of the bank’s financial disclosures will peel back the curtain on Goldman’s lending and proprietary bets and reshape its quarterly reports to investors to look more like those of peers JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. , whose shares are more richly valued by investors.
The changes are the latest effort by Goldman to shed some of its signature secrecy. For many investors, the changes are long overdue, though it remains to be seen whether they will generate enthusiasm for a stock that hasn’t grown meaningfully since 2007.