Goldman Sachs

Manager: Lloyd Blankfein
Age: 52
Appointed: 2006
Value added: 49.3% pa (1st)
Chop rating: 0/5

Blankfein has the job that everybody wanted. Goldman is at the top of its game. But it’s a big jump from the coach’s bench to the manager’s office. Can he cope with the pressure and keep clients happy in the face of Goldman’s win-at-all-costs tactics?

Star players: Gary Cohn and Jon Winkelried, co-presidents, have stepped into Blankfein’s boots easily and helped steer the firm to its best ever year

Rising star: Michael Sherwood, co-global head of securities and co-CEO of Goldman Sachs in London. Woody famously ran the firm’s European debt syndicate desk at the tender age of 24 and has been around for so long its hard to think of him as a rising star, but he is still only 40. Could he be the first Brit to be CEO?

Weakest link: Where? For some time it has had a very different formation to other firms that others are now trying to copy. But can you do it without the best talent pool? The relative weakness in bond and securitized product origination could be a concern if playing conditions change dramatically. And some senior partners are leaving, which is rare for Goldman

Key transfers 2006:

IN: Michael Smith (head of real estate banking in Asia, from UBS); Craig Packer (head of high yield capital markets, from Credit Suisse); Lachlan Edwards (head of European restructuring business, from Rothschild)

OUT: Hank Paulson (chief executive, to the US department of treasury); Richard Sharp (head of private equity); Scott Kapnick (co-head of global investment banking); George Walker (co-head of hedge fund strategies group, to Lehman Brothers); Addy Loudiadis (co-head of the European financing group); Suzanne Nora Johnson (vice-chairwoman)

2006 capital markets performance (▼/▲ 2005)

Overall fees: $4,564mln (+32%)       1st (▲1)
DCM:               $1,057mln (+24.6%)    8th (▲1)
ECM:               $1,462.6mln (+58.4%) 1st (▲2)
M&A:              $2,044.2mln (+21.2%) 1st (no move)
FX market share:  5.25% (+0.86%) 6th (▲2)

Rankings 2006:

Return on equity: 29.6% (1st)
Growth of earnings: 60% (3rd)
Market cap: $88.7bln (8th)

Champions League position 2006: 1st
If Goldman were a Champions League team it would be: Barcelona. The champions, and the team that everyone else would love to play for. Then again, once you’re at the top of the league, there’s only one way you can go...