In an article written for today's Financial Times, as the Obama administration prepares to rewrite the rule book governing the US banking industry, Mr Blankfein outlines seven areas of misdemeanour – ranging from “complexity [getting] the better of us” to the “outsourcing of risk management” to ratings agencies.
Two days before he and other Wall Street bigwigs are due to testify before a Congressional committee, Mr Blankfein calls for the elevation of risk and control disciplines within the nation's banks.
“Risk managers need to have at least equal stature with their counterparts in producing divisions,” he says. “If there is . . . disagreement, the risk manager's view should always prevail.”