Donald Trump may be thinking of adding a key member of the great vampire squid to his presidential cabinet.
Goldman Sachs (GS) president and chief operating officer Gary Cohn, who is only second to CEO Lloyd Blankfein, is set to meet with the president-elect in New York on Tuesday. Cohn is the latest business leader to make a trip to Trump Tower following the elections to either offer advice or discuss a potential seat in Trump’s cabinet, Sean Spicer said on a conference call with reporters Tuesday. It is unclear if 56-year-old Cohn is in the running for a cabinet position or if he is there to advise.
The high-profile Wall Street executive has been with Goldman Sachs for roughly 26 years, and has also been rumored to be Blankfein’s successor should he step down. Cohn started at Goldman in the 1990s, working in the commodities trading unit. He gained oversight in Goldman’s mortgage unit in 2000, and pushed the desk to increase risk-taking in the years leading up to the financial crisis, according to Bloomberg.
Although the president-elect heavily criticized Wall Street on the campaign trail, he has considered picking a handful of financial industry leaders to be in his cabinet. Trump’s campaign finance chairman and the top contender for treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, is a Goldman Sachs alumus, as is chief strategist Steve Bannon. Trump first considered J.P. Morgan Chase’s (JPM) Jamie Dimon for treasury secretary before Dimon turned him down.
Investors are expecting Trump’s presidency to be friendly to Wall Street. The Keefe Bruyette and Woods Nasdaq Bank Index has risen 14.3% since election day earlier this month, as investors piled into the financial industry. Trump has voiced plans to deregulate Wall Street, such as pulling back on the Dodd-Frank act, while his promise to build more infrastructures is expected to result in further interest rate hikes. Both moves should help the banks boost their revenue and bottom line.
