Getting a job at Goldman Sachs may be a ticket to great wealth, but it no longer comes with an automatic brokerage account at the Wall Street firm.
For years, employees automatically received an account at Goldman. It came with a bit of cachet, allowing staff members to say their money was managed by Goldman, which has a $10 million minimum for its private wealth clients. The perk also had a practical application for Goldman, making it easier to monitor employee trading.
However, in recent months Goldman has notified several employees, most of whom have assets valued at less than $1 million, that their brokerage accounts are being transferred to Fidelity. Some former employees have also been put on notice that they need to move their assets. Goldman says it will save some money on the move because it won’t be servicing accounts that don’t fit the firm’s high net worth strategy. It also says it will give the people who are moving appropriate tools to manage their money.
“This is entirely consistent with current employees who have similar investment criteria and ensures these current and former employees receive the right tools and services,” a Goldman spokesman, David Wells, said in a statement.
Still, some employees are less than thrilled. “I guess it’s official, by Goldman standards I’m poor,” said one employee who asked not to be identified because of a firm policy against speaking to the media. The employee has assets valued at about $500,000.
The move is reminiscent of moves years ago by Merrill Lynch and other firms, which transferred clients with assets less than $100,000 into call centers, causing an uproar among some customers who felt they were being shortchanged.