Goldman Sees No Limits on Leverage, Analyst Says

New York Times story on how Goldman Sachs is not planning to change its use of leverage, notwithstanding that it is now a "bank holding company."

Goldman Sachs may have morphed into a bank holding company, but the Wall Street firm doesn't feel compelled to lower its leverage or pull back in any of its business lines.

That's the key point that Roger A. Freeman, Barclays Capital's banking analyst, says he took away from his meeting with Gary Cohn, Goldman's president and chief operating officer, and David Viniar, Goldman's chief financial officer.

The two Goldman executives told Mr. Freeman that the firm's "business model is sound and not likely to be upended as a result of the new bank holding company structure and Federal Reserve oversight," Mr. Freeman said, paraphrasing their comments in a research note published Thursday. More specifically, Goldman's executives told Mr. Freeman that the firm "does not expect to see any imposition of leverage ratio thresholds or business mix restrictions."