Goldman Sachs is planning to boost the size of its wealth management and commercial banking divisions.

Goldman Sachs is planning to boost the size of its wealth management and commercial banking divisions, the Financial Times has reported.

This publication understands that the FT story about the plans is accurate. Goldman Sachs declined to comment on the matter when contacted.

The FT said the changes are part of the mandate of Stephen Scherr, a 21-year Goldman veteran, who was promoted to a new position of chief strategy officer on Monday in a management reshuffle.
Scherr is currently global head of financing; his appointment, the FT said, was appointed in internal Goldman memos, and includes a role to “help co-ordinate our lending business as we leverage our existing bank platform to provide credit to both corporate and individual clients”.

Scherr has been working with Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive, for several weeks to work out how to increase the size of Goldman’s commercial bank.

The report said a move more bank lending will not involve a big retail presence, and there are no plans for Goldman branches across the US. But the wealthiest individuals will be a target for the bank’s expansion, and for the potential expansion of the private wealth management division, it said.

Goldman’s wealth management division caters for a far richer clientele than rivals such as Morgan Stanley. Gary Cohn, Goldman president, told a conference last week that the average account balance was $40 million, the report added.

Banks have been re-examining their business models to comply with a new US regulatory apparatus, such as the so-called Volcker Rule – named after policy advisor and former Fed chairman Paul Volcker – that bans banks from proprietary trading. The rule is a response to the 2008 financial crash.