Surprise! Goldman Sachs could be largely unaffected by financial overhaul

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By Nathaniel Popper, Los Angeles Times
August 11, 2010

Reporting from New York —
As Wall Street scrambles to find the best and most profitable way to operate under the new financial reform law, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. — the firm that was expected to suffer the most under the legislation — could emerge practically unscathed.

Right after Congress passed the regulatory overhaul bill last month, analysts estimated that as much as one-tenth of the preeminent investment bank's earnings could vanish because of new restrictions on activities targeted by the regulatory overhaul.

More recently, however, top Goldman executives privately advised analysts that the bank did not expect the reform measure to cost it any revenue.

"The statement was perhaps surprising in its level of conviction," Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Guy Moszkowski wrote in a note to clients, "but we've learned to take such judgments from GS very seriously."

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http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-goldman-20100811,0,2225692.story