Goldman Sachs Group Inc. To Dismiss 20 Analysts For Cheating

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is dismissing 20 analysts all over the world, including in their offices in London and New York, because they discovered they were cheating on their internal training tests.

The employees, who had been working in the investment bank’s securities division, have either already been dismissed or are in the process of leaving the bank, said said private sources. The junior-banker title doesn’t refer to research analysts who recommend stocks to investors.

“This conduct was not just a clear violation of the rules, but completely inconsistent with the values we foster at the firm,” said Sebastian Howell, a Goldman Sachs spokesman in London, who said he couldn’t comment further.

Bankers throughout Wall Street often assist each other on basic training and compliance tests because these are seen as time consuming and repetitive, according to separate people with knowledge of the process. Investment banks have started taking strict measures to prevent this from happening in recent years amid increasing scrutiny from regulators.

“In thecurrent environment, any breach that even suggests something inappropriate isgoing to be dealt with extremely seriously,” said Simon Hayes, a partner at U.K.executive search firm Odgers Berndtson. “It’s no good talking about culturalchange if you’re not going to follow through with action when inappropriatecultural behavior is demonstrated.”