There is an interesting line at the bottom of the New York Times story about Merrill Lynch and John Thain, its new chief executive, this morning. Mr Thain, you will recall, used to be the co-president of Goldman Sachs, before he joined the NYSE Group as chief executive.

For his part, Mr Thain appears to enjoy the job. He praised the company’s culture, and he was quick with an answer as to how that culture differed from that of Goldman Sachs, where he built his career. “The biggest single difference is the focus on clients,” he said. “Merrill does truly put clients first.”

Ouch. That sounds to me like Mr Thain saying that Goldman does not truly put its clients first. It is rather hard to interpret that remark any other way. Some other Goldman alumni say similar things, although not for quotation: that Goldman’s focus on trading and investing for itself has tilted the balance of the bank away from looking after its customers first.

I have written about this topic before in examining quite why Goldman’s recent financial results have been so good, putting the rest of Wall Street to shame.

In Mr Thain’s case, we should perhaps aim off for the fact that he now runs a rival to Goldman and so is talking up his own institution. But it is a striking remark, especially since Mr Thain has talked openly before of wanting to bring some of Goldman’s famed teamwork to Merrill.

January 18th, 2008 in Finance | Permalink