Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley determined to go alone: FT

Global financial service majors Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley believe they have financial strength to survive as the last two remaining large stand-alone investment banks and are not interested in pairing with a commercial bank, a media report said.    

"In the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America at the weekend, the two Wall Street firms maintained that they could survive as independents without linking up with a commercial bank to gain access to broader sources of funding," according to UK daily Financial Times.    

Goldman Sachs maintained that it was not interested in pairing with a commercial bank, even as it has reported a 70 per cent fall in third-quarter profits, its highest decline in quarterly earnings since it went public in 1999.    

Besides, Morgan Stanley beat expectations to show a seven per cent year-on-year fall in its net income to $1.4 billion.    

Further, the report quoted Goldman Sachs Chief Financial Officer David Viniar as saying that, "We have a lot of compassion" for the people at Lehman and Merrill, but the bank stands to benefit from the demise of formidable competitors".    

"When there's less competition, that's better for us. We have pricing power, and it gives us an even better competitive advantage," Viniar added.    

Besides, the media report quoted Morgan Stanley Chief Financial Officer Colm Kelleher as saying that "These markets are all about confidence and we are proudly confident in the robustness of our franchise, business model and balance sheet."