Goldman Sachs’ London office has more bloat than ever
If you’re a banker at Goldman Sachs in London, you might feel as though the last few years have seen your team get smaller despite the bank piling on operations, risk, and technology people. And you’d be correct.
Get Morning Coffee ☕ in your inbox. Sign up here.
Goldman Sachs International, the London-based subsidiary of the New York-based bank, released figures for 2024 earlier this week. The topline figures were good – investment management aside (more on that later), revenues were up by 50% in investment banking, up by 3% in equities sales & trading, and down just 3.5% in fixed income, currencies, and commodities (FICC) trading.
What was worrying was the firm’s headcount changes, especially the fact that support functions are the only group of London Goldmanites that have grown in number since 2019. Between 2019 and 2024, Goldman's equities staff fell by 15%, FICC staff fell by 15%, and investment banking by 15%. Its support staff grew by 14% in that time.
More of the same may be coming. Between 2023 and 2024, the number of front-office people was more or less static, declining by just 20 people – 1% of the total. In that same period, support-related headcount grew by over 100 people, or 11%.
The other curious movement of people was the decline in “investment management” people, especially after 2021. This change was due to the reassignment of heads in asset management from Goldman Sachs International to Goldman Sachs Asset Management International, and not due to the axing of any heads.
One thing that Goldman Sachs International definitely does is pay well. The average pay package in 2024 in its London office, including both front- and back-office people, was $764k. That was up from the already-respectable $657k per head it paid in 2023 and the $566k per head it paid in 2019.
Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Contact: +44 7537 182250 (SMS, WhatsApp or voicemail). Telegram: @SarahButcher. Click here to fill in our anonymous form, or email editortips@efinancialcareers.com. Signal also available.
Bear with us if you leave a comment at the bottom of this article: all our comments are moderated by human beings. Sometimes these humans might be asleep, or away from their desks, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. Eventually it will – unless it’s offensive or libelous (in which case it won’t.)
