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Finance Conference: Wall Street Risks, Rewards and Opportunities
If the capital markets are
models of efficiency, how
could the recent staggering
mortgage-related securities
losses happen? Two
Wall Street titans—Lloyd
Blankfein, chairman and
CEO of Goldman Sachs,
and Kenneth Moelis,
WG’81, of Moelis & Co.—addressed that question
at last fall’s Wharton
Finance Conference in New
York City.
Despite having different
perspectives—Blankfein
rose through Goldman’s
fixed income, currency and
commodities divisions,
while Moelis is a veteran
M&A investment banker—Moelis and Blankfein
agreed that risk management
is a corporate culture
issue. To manage risks
effectively over time, employees
must put the firm’s
welfare and the preservation
of important client
relationships ahead of everything
else.
In October, said Moelis, “firms got hit from The Blind Side”—a reference
to a recent bestseller
by Michael Lewis about
professional football—“and a number of Wall
Street leaders suffered career-ending injuries.” Said
Blankfein, “Risk is risk,
and you can’t be perfect at
managing it.”
The annual Wharton
Finance Conference brings
together industry practitioners,
government finance
officials, alumni,
students and faculty to
discuss issues in finance
and present new ideas
and research. This year’s
conference featured panel
discussions on topics
including mergers and
acquisitions, the changing
face of private equity
and investment banking,
and whether emerging
markets are indeed still
emerging. For complete
coverage of the Wharton
Finance Conference, visit
Knowledge@Wharton
at knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu.
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