It helped make Goldman Sachs (GS) a global investing powerhouse.
But now, the investment banking giant is handing its clients the risk-management software that helped the bank to make well-timed trades and dodge disasters, the Wall Street Journal reports. Even now, the software is the firm’s main tool for risk assessment.
Securities DataBase, also known as SecDB, allows users to test out potential trades and assess the risk of those positions. Up until now it was so guarded that chief operating officer Gary Cohn said he wouldn’t sell the rights to use the technology for $1 billion—maybe for $5 billion, the Journal reported.
But amid a shifting regulatory atmosphere, the banking giant now sees client access to its web-based application as a way to stimulate business. The tool is largely directed toward Goldman’s client base of hedge fund and money managers. And the company hopes trade-adept customers will use SecDB to customize strategies before going to Goldman to execute said trades.
Regulations limiting banking risk have pressed on trading profits, so Goldman has an opportunity to be associated with both banking and tech.
SecDB is just one of several applications Goldman plans to roll out via its software platform, Marquee, according to the Journal. Another app includes Simon, which lets independent brokers both customize and buy structured notes.
