GSAM has long struggled with personnel turnover, with a steady degree of analyst departures and additions coinciding with leadership reshufflings over the past few years that includes the September 2022 departure of equity head Katie Koch. Meanwhile, parent company Goldman Sachs elected to merge its asset management and wealth management units in October 2022, reversing a decision to split them in 2020, and assigned Marc Nachmann to lead the unit. Although he is a longtime Goldman veteran, most of his prior experience has been with the firm’s investment bank. Potentially complicating his remit is the firm’s December 2021 acquisition of NN IP, whose traditional and sustainable-investing branches could add capabilities but will take time to integrate. Bolstering the firm’s sustainability credentials could be especially pressing given the SEC’s November 2022 fining of GSAM for past failings in its ESG-related operations.
GSAM has some strengths worth highlighting. Portfolio-manager ownership statistics across the firm’s U.S. lineup have improved dramatically since the firm instituted a deferred compensation program of fund shares in early 2020, and GSAM has compelling capabilities within its quantitative equity franchise.