Goldman comes under fire over comms

The US investment bank's market value fell by £1.3bn after Smith, an executive director in Europe, said Goldman staff referred to clients as 'muppets' and 'sidelined' their interests in the relentless pursuit of profits.

Goldman quickly responded to the New York Times article by suggesting that Smith was 'quite junior' and 'passed over for promotion', but observers noted the bank may need a wholesale change to its comms culture.

Newgate PR director Jason Nisse commented: 'The problem is years of under-communication by Goldman, something that is endemic in investment banking, where the attitude is "we are very clever, trust us to get things right", not "we are very clever, we'll show you how we get things right". Trust, though, is fickle ... The only way to rekindle trust is to be more open.'

Nick Murray-Leslie, CEO of Chatsworth Communications, added: 'The investment banks retreated to a "no-one likes us and we don't care" position a long time ago. However, this is enormously damaging to Goldman's place in its peer group.'