Goldman Sachs Group Inc, which took $10 billion in US bailout funds last year, shouldn’t get taxpayer support if the firm focuses on trading over banking, according to former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.
The “safety net” provided by the US government “should not be extended beyond the core commercial-banking business,” Volcker, 82, said in an interview at Deutsche Bank AG’s Berlin office, where he was attending a conference. “They can do trading and do anything they want, but then they shouldn’t have access to the safety net.”