Goldman Sachs.

I bet they are selling off their U.S Trust division to a bank. Perhaps to Citibank or B of A? I have read that they have never really gained synergies there, and it may make sense for them to rid themselves of a non-core business and focus on their niche market…

[quote=blarmston]I bet they are selling off their U.S Trust division to a bank. Perhaps to Citibank or B of A? I have read that they have never really gained synergies there, and it may make sense for them to rid themselves of a non-core business and focus on their niche market....[/quote]

That's interesting. I haven't looked at their balance sheet, but it's hard to understand how asset management isn't a real winner for them. You could be right since Chuck's back and the US Trust deal happened (IIRC) while he was gone.

I remeber reading an article months ago speculating along those lines. In this day of spinning off non-core business units, merging with competitors to imrpvie margins, etc, it makes sense for them to consider that. Schwab is doing a good job of improving their AUM, especially in the RIA channel, and their discount operation is making strides as well. They could sell off US Trust ( for what- 5 Billion or so?) and redeploy those monies to shore up their exisitng core lines, or maybe bid for another discounter (say Scottrade?)...

Ahhhhh. The possibilities are endless....

The best scenario would be if schwab sold the online trading to e-trade. Spun  off the RIA business, sold the trust company. The schwab could morph into a clearing house to compete with pershing.

An even better scenario would be if they gave me some of that $$$. Then I could put it back into our economy via foolish expenditures and everybody wins!

Schwab sucks, I can’t imagine who would want to acquire them.