高管小圈子把持高盛董事会

    高盛被指控在金融危机前夕误导投资者，目前尚不清楚高盛董事会是否考察过施瓦茨在这起事件中所扮演的角色。根据美国参议院常设调查委员会（Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation）收集的文件，2007年3月8日，施瓦茨在电子邮件中写道：“我们应该解决的一个大问题是如何表达我们对市场的看法，需要和交易部门的策略保持一致。”就后来引发10亿美元客户赔偿案的Timberwolf债务抵押证券，高盛主管唐纳德·马伦在2007年5月11日给施瓦茨的邮件中写到：“我认为在做销售前，必须先厘清这个问题。”这里他指的就是高盛向客户推销投资的方式。施瓦茨同意与客户沟通十分必要，但在回信中这样写道：“我不认为应该放慢、或者推迟销售，……不管怎样，我们应该在竞的投标前迅速解决这件事情。这也是一种办法，你说呢？

    销售出身的施瓦茨是否从金融危机的详细审查中吸取了教训？为获取新职位所需的信任，他是否具备足够判断力和警觉性？这些问题都还有待观察。

    关于董事会的未来，高盛在最近的CFO新闻稿中这样说道：“公司可望在近期增加新的独立董事。”但加上维尼尔之后，现在已经有11位董事。一般而言，12位董事已经很多了，再增加人手，董事会就会变得笨拙而低效。

    未来我们还应关注谁会退出高盛董事会。三位管理层人士对董事会来说太多了。退出候选人除了他们，还有董事会元老詹姆斯·乔纳森、比尔·乔治和克莱斯•达尔巴克，他们的任职年限分别为13年、10年和9年。按多数标准衡量，他们已经或很快将被认为是公司内幕人士。首席董事詹姆斯·斯基罗是5家大型上市公司的董事会成员。（用一句行话来说，就是“超载”了。）史蒂芬·弗里德曼今年12月就年满75岁了。根据《纽约邮报》（New York Post）的报道，最近被提名为高盛审计委员会主席的米歇尔·伯恩斯在2005-2006年曾担任过沃尔玛（Wal-Mart）的审计委员，“期间这家零售巨头正在秘密应对公司高管贿赂官员的指控。”比恩斯已不再担任沃尔玛审计委员，而沃尔玛发言人称，审计委员会从2011年11月已经开始调查这一案件，目前仍未结案。

    现在看来，高盛将持续实施小规模的改变，以应付分析师、投资者和公众。但随着公司治理问题淡出人们的视野，这个问题会到底会得到最终的解决？还是每况愈下？

    爱丽诺•布洛斯罕是董事会咨询公司价值联盟与公司治理联盟（The Value Alliance and Corporate Governance Alliance，http://thevaluealliance.com）的CEO。

    It's unclear whether Goldman's board considered Schwartz's role at the bank related to accusations that it misled its investors in the run up to the financial crisis. According to documents collected by the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation, on March 8, 2007, Schwartz wrote in an email, "one of our biggest issues is how we communicate our views of the market --- consistently with what the desk wants to execute." Related to the Timberwolf CDO -- which was the subject of a $1 billion client lawsuit -- Goldman executive Donald Mullen wrote in an email on May 11, 2007 to Schwartz, "I think we need to sort these things out before we make sales," referring to the way the bank was presenting the investments to clients. Schwartz agreed communications with clients mattered but replied, "Don't think we should slow or delay… However we need to huddle quickly before hitting bids I think. Is that not an option?"

    It remains to be seen whether Schwartz, who has a sales background, has learned lessons from the financial crisis scrutiny -- and whether he has the judgment and caution required to gain the trust required in his new role.

    Related to the future of the board, "the firm expects to appoint additional independent directors to its board in the near term," Goldman's recent CFO-related press release stated. But with the addition of Viniar, the board will already be at 11 members. The rule of thumb is that 12 is plenty; more would make the board unwieldy and less effective.

    Going forward, it will be important to watch who may also be leaving the Goldman board. Three management insiders are too many. Beyond exits for them, James Johnson, Bill George, and Claes Dahlbäck are all long-tenured members with over 13, nearly 10, and over 9 years on the board, respectively. By most standards, they are -- or will be -- considered insiders soon. James Schiro, the lead director, sits on five major pubic company boards. (To use the common lingo, he's over-boarded.) Stephen Friedman turns 75 in December. And according to the New York Post, Michele Burns, who was recently named head of Goldman's audit committee, served on Wal-Mart's audit committee "in 2005 and 2006, when the retail giant was secretly grappling with charges that its executives bribed officials." She no longer sits on the Wal-Mart audit committee, and a spokesperson for Wal-Mart says that the current investigation by the board's audit committee, which began in November 2011, is ongoing.

    It seems that, for now, Goldman will be feeding analysts, investors, and the public small doses of change. But with governance issues out of the spotlight, will it get better or worse at the bank?

    Eleanor Bloxham is CEO of The Value Alliance and Corporate Governance Alliance (http://thevaluealliance.com), a board advisory firm.