Goldman confirms rumors of Laurence Stein's departure

After two weeks of Wall Street whispers and nearly 30 years of service, Laurence Stein is leaving Goldman Sachs.

Goldman confirmed Monay that Stein, the bank’s executive vice president and chief operating officer of its asset and wealth management division, has decided to retire from the firm at the end of the year.

“Over the past 27 years, it has been a privilege to work in every business of this extraordinary institution – I am grateful to have had the opportunity to partner with Goldman Sachs’ leadership team and incredibly talented people across all levels to make a positive impact on the firm. More recently in Asset & Wealth Management, our teams have done great work to position us to capitalize on the significant growth opportunity we see for the business,” said Stein, who is also a member of the bank’s Management Committee.

Stein joined Goldman Sachs in 1996 in the finance division. He was named managing director in 2003 and partner in 2006. Prior to his current role in asset and wealth management, he served as the firm’s chief administrative officer, global head of the operations division, chief operating officer of its securities division and chief financial officer for the investment banking division.

Stein is among a recent string of top executives to leave amid a wave of changes in the bank’s wealth management arm. Two weeks ago, Goldman exited the business of housing financial advisors directly under its roof and sold Personal Financial Management, formerly United Capital Financial Partners, the RIA it bought in 2019, to Creative Planning, a leading RIA with $245 billion in client assets.

Marc Nachmann, global head of Goldman’s asset and wealth management division, commented on this latest departure, saying, “I’ve had the chance to work closely with Laurence for more than two decades. Most recently in Asset & Wealth Management, Laurence’s experience and insight have been invaluable to me as we’ve identified growth opportunities and built an organizational structure that will allow us to take advantage of them.”  

In other personnel news, Goldman also revealed today that Will Bousquette will join its asset and wealth management division as chief operating officer. Bousquette was previously in Goldman’s global banking and markets business, where he most recently served as chief operating officer and a member of its public operating and investment banking executive committees.