Merrill Analyst Adds to Goldman Bank Deal Chatter

[harry123]

Source: New York Times

Is Goldman Sachs mulling a move to buy a deposit-taking bank?

According to Merrill Lynch analyst Guy Moszkowski, the Wall Street giant has crunched the numbers on such a deal, as it could help Goldman fund its businesses during times of market turmoil.

Goldman’s chief financial officer, David Viniar, told Mr. Moszkowski in a meeting that “the firm had done extensive analysis on the degree to which it might be able to deploy excess deposits to fund core businesses,” Reuters cited the analyst as saying.

“We still would not ascribe very high probability, but if a bank with excess deposits were available at the right price, with no need for Goldman to exit existing businesses, we’d no longer rule it out,” Reuters cited Mr. Moszkowski as saying in a client note after meeting with four senior Goldman executives last week. “These are strange times indeed.”


Read more: http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/29/merrill-analyst-adds-to-goldman-bank-deal-chatter/

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Nouriel Roubini said pretty much the same about ALL broker dealers:

http://www.creditwritedowns.com/2008/07/goldman-looking-to-buy-bank.html

[blackspade]

1. What the hell?

Excess deposits?
What on earth kind of double speak is that?
Those 'excess deposits' belong to someone else and are not there to prop up Goldman Sach's core businesses.

Asshats

[WriteDown]

2. Uh...

Excess deposits are usually money from commercial banks parked at the central bank above requirements. They are not meant for anything. Its like wanting to make a purchase with your paypal account and you put 200$ in. The item you want is only 175$ though. Now you can use that 25$ for other purchases.