Goldman Sachs (NYSE :GS) managing director Gerald Corrigan said that the currency swaps that his bank had entered into with Greece in 2001 could have been more transparent.
Corrigan told The U.S. Treasury’s Select Committee that “nothing inappropriate” happened in the deals which produced “a rather small but nevertheless not insignificant reduction in Greece’s debt to GDP ratios at that time”.
While speaking as to whether or not some banks were becoming too big to fail, Corrigan said that Goldman Sachs had benefit from about $28 billion of taxpayer funds, including money for credit default swap contracts with American International Group, which was bailed out in September of 2008.
Corrigan commented that he thought that Goldman was “disproportionately singled out” because of its success. He added, “I don’t think it’s unfair . . . It’s perfectly understandable that people are angry.”
“I do have some concerns that if we are not very careful at some point we could see animal spirits beginning to pop up here and there again. We have to be much more aggressive and vigilant in the future than in the past,” he commented.
