Goldman Sachs Group Inc. just sacked two employees after one of them had allegedly shared sensitive documents from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York within the company.
One junior banker, who had just onboarded the bank a few months ago from the New York Fed, was fired a few days after the discovery in late September. Another employee was also fired because of failing to escalate the issue. This was according to an internal memo which was obtained by Bloomberg News.
The employees who were fired were not identified.
Jake Siewert, a spokesman for Goldman, had confirmed the contents of the memo after a report was released yesterday in the New York Times.
The memo read, "We have zero tolerance for improper handling of confidential information. We are reviewing our policies regarding any hiring from governmental institutions to ensure that they are appropriately effective and robust."
The Goldman employee had forwarded an e-mail from a Fed that contained confidential information on September 26.
Goldman as well as the New York Fed have faced queries about their relationship since a previous examiner named Carmen Segarra revealed that her former colleagues at the regulator were deferential in their oversight of the firm. She disclosed secretly recorded conversations with the colleagues to the radio program "This American Life" a couple of months ago. On the same day that it hit the news, Goldman Sachs immediately changed their policy and addressed conflicts of interest and barred its investment bankers from trading individual stocks and bonds.
The New York Fed also said in a statement that it maintains "zero tolerance" for employees who don't safekeep sensitive and confidential information. According to a statement, "We have detailed rules and controls protecting confidential information. We also know that we are not perfect, that information today is more difficult to safeguard, and we are resolute to learn from our experiences."
