By Saeed Azhar
NEW YORK Goldman Sachs fired several executives in its transaction banking unit after they violated the firm's communications policy, according to a memo seen by Reuters on Wednesday.
The company did not name the individuals in the memo. Philip Berlinski, the bank's treasurer, will take over day-to-day management of transaction banking alongside Akila Raman and Luc Teboul. Berlinski is also leading Goldman's financial technology and consumer business on an interim basis.
Hari Moorthy, the head of transaction banking, was among the people who departed, the person said. He is no longer listed as a registered broker on industry regulator FINRA's website.
Moorthy did not respond to a voicemail or LinkedIn message seeking comment.
"We are not going to comment on individual disciplinary matters," the company said in an email. "We take our communications policy seriously, and we expect all of our personnel to comply with it."
The individuals violated the firm's communications policy, which states that employees must communicate about firm-related business on firm-approved communications channels, according to the memo. The news was first reported by Reuters.
The fired executives also failed to cooperate with Goldman Sachs' compliance department.
The bank remains strongly committed to the transaction banking business, it said.
U.S. regulators have so far fined dozens of Wall Street firms collectively more than $2 billion for failing to keep tabs on employees' use of "off-channel" communications including text messages and WhatsApp.
Goldman Sachs was among the first wave of big banks regulators hit with stiff penalties for such recordkeeping failures.
(Reporting by Saeed Azhar; addditional reporting by Chris Prentice; Editing by Leslie Adler, Lananh Nguyen and Josie Kao)
