Goldman Sachs turns in doubled earnings

GOLDMAN SACHS, rumoured recently to have lost hundreds of millions of dollars trading in derivatives, earned a stunning dollars 2.7bn (pounds 1.8bn) last year, according to leaked documents obtained separately in New York and Europe.

That profit, almost double its record 1992 earnings, was generated during a fiscal year that ended late in November - well before the upheaval in world bond markets that has cut deeply into the trading profits of many large investment banks and hedge funds. But the leaked financial statements underline Goldman's strong capital position, which stood at more than dollars 5bn at the end of last year.

The results were in a Eurobond offer document dated 28 January obtained both by the Dow Jones news service and by Investment Dealers Digest. The figures show that Goldman, a private partnership, is once again the world's most profitable securities firm, ahead of the much larger Merrill Lynch.

Goldman's partners, however, have a claim against as much as a fifth of the profits, receiving deferred bonuses of dollars 3m apiece. The Independent reported in December that in London alone 100 Goldman bankers earned bonuses in excess of dollars 1m each for 1993.