David Solomon says he isn't feeling any pressure from Morgan Stanley's latest move.
Goldman Sachs doesn't need an acquisition on the scale of its rival's $13 billion purchase of E-Trade Financial, the bank's chief executive officer said at an investor conference Thursday. Solomon said competitors' actions won't influence his strategy as he seeks growth through a series of ventures in new businesses.
"We don't need to do something like E-Trade," Solomon said. "The bar to do those things is extremely high and it's not easy."
Solomon said his management team is "always looking" at potential deals, including ones that could be "transformative." His firm looked at E-Trade and decided it wasn't a good fit.
Morgan Stanley's announcement is being interpreted by analysts, investors and investment bankers as just the start of a long-predicted series of deals big enough to reshape the upper echelons of the U.S. financial industry. JPMorgan Chase & Co. said this week it will "aggressively" pursue mergers.
