Too squid to fail

IN ITS pomp, Goldman Sachs was in a class of its own. No Wall Street investment bank was as well-connected, as arrogant, as influential—nor as feared and derided: the “Great Vampire Squid” of legend. It still has the best brand name in the business. But like the rest of its industry, it has not fully recovered from the near-death experience of 2008. Banks are the untouchables of global stockmarkets. Even the boss of one, Credit Suisse, has described them as “not really investable”, and, sure enough, shares in many of the most prominent firms—Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, Bank of America—trade well below book value, suggesting they would be better off liquidated. Goldman’s shares trade virtually at book value. But even it is a shadow of its former self.Goldman, however, did not become a byword for financial acumen without acquiring some acute self-diagnosis skills. It is turning into an industry leader in another way: as an exemplar of the wrenching transformation banks need to undertake in order to survive and prosper (see ).