The financial institutions group (FIG) has a long history at Goldman Sachs. It is the investment bank’s longest standing industry vertical.
More recently, the franchise has developed by investing more effort in asset management, especially alternatives and financial technology. This ties in with Pete Lyon’s dual mandate since 2019 as global head of FIG and global head of the financial and strategic investors group. It has also gone hand in hand with the wider development at Goldman of its cross-markets group, targeting mid-market transactions, including those from financial institutions.
Pushing harder in alternatives, fintech and mid-caps has gone against FIG’s sometimes staid reputation – that of being about traditional banks and insurance companies – into a division that is expanding relatively rapidly from a revenue perspective within Goldman's investment bank.