michael sherwood, one of goldman sachs group inc. <u+2019>s most senior executives in europe and a three-decade veteran of the wall street firm, announced a surprise decision on monday to retire. mr. sherwood, widely known as <u+201c>woody,<u+201d> will leave the bank at the end of the year, goldman sachs said in an internal memo. since joining the bank in 1986, mr. sherwood played a key role pushing the investment bank<u+2019>s growth in europe and more recently into emerging markets. mr. sherwood, like many in the inner circle of chief executive lloyd blankfein, came up through goldman<u+2019>s fixed-income division. he previously chaired goldman<u+2019>s powerful partnership committee and had been seen as a potential successor to mr. blankfein, though some inside the bank thought his odds had been diminished as goldman<u+2019>s international business had faced setbacks. his departure thins the ranks of the next generation of executives seen to be jockeying for mr. blankfein<u+2019>s job. <u+201c>some people want that [job] passionately; i just didn<u+2019>t,<u+201d> mr. sherwood said in an interview. <u+201c>i<u+2019>ve loved working at goldman sachs. i<u+2019>ve been here since i was 20, and it<u+2019>s better to go when want you to stay than to overstay your welcome.<u+201d> with the move, richard gnodde will take over as sole chief executive of goldman sachs international, the collection of overseas businesses that he now runs with mr. sherwood. mr. gnodde, a south african merger banker based in london, is also one of three executives overseeing its investment-banking division. goldman sachs international deals with clients across europe, the middle east and africa. while the business has grown strongly since mr. sherwood<u+2019>s promotion to co-run the division in 2005, europe was an early testing ground for initiatives later phased in across the firm, such as combining fixed-income and equities trading into a single securities division. mr. sherwood said he is proud of having turned a <u+201c>tiny, lossmaking entity<u+201d> into a business that contributes a little more than one-quarter of goldman<u+2019>s total income. results have suffered of late amid stagnating economic growth in the region. the bank is also wrestling with the outcome of the u.k.<u+2019>s vote to leave the european union, which could force the company to restructure its operations in the region, further pinching profits. mr. sherwood said the bank, which supported britain remaining in the european union, isn<u+2019>t close to completing its plans. goldman<u+2019>s international division has run into other troubles. the firm<u+2019>s work raising money for a malaysian sovereign-wealth fund, known as 1mdb, has thrust it into a global corruption probe. in 2014, libya<u+2019>s government fund sued goldman over soured derivatives the bank had sold it. goldman prevailed at trial this year, but faced testimony that it took advantage of its client<u+2019>s lack of understanding to sell complicated securities. mr. sherwood also found himself as a symbol of banker excess in europe. one of the best-paid executives at goldman sachs, his multimillion-dollar bonuses raised eyebrows, especially at the height of the eurozone debt crisis. he recently appeared before u.k. parliamentary inquiry to discuss the bank<u+2019>s role in advising british businessman philip green in the sale of bhs, a retailing chain that subsequently went into the equivalent of bankruptcy, putting thousands of jobs at risk. mr. sherwood became a partner in 1994, the same year at mr. blankfein<u+2019>s top deputy, gary cohn. also in that class was steven mnuchin, who is now an adviser to president-elect donald trump. messrs. sherwood and mnuchin were executives in goldman<u+2019>s fixed-income business at the same time, with mr. mnuchin running mortgage trading and mr. sherwood overseeing credit trading. mr. sherwood said he plans to spend more time on various philanthropic efforts, as well as on investing his own money. over the years, he has invested alongside partners in companies including luxury-goods makers anya hindmarch and frank smythson ltd. last week, he sold 42,317 goldman shares valued at $8.75 million as the stock price surged on the back of mr. trump<u+2019>s victory. he continued to own more than 319,000 shares, directly and indirectly, according to a filing friday. mr. sherwood was the last remaining senior executive at goldman with the title vice chairman. others with the title, which has been given to those in mr. blankfein<u+2019>s close orbit, included mark schwartz, john weinberg and michael evans, all of whom have left or announced plans to leave the firm. the decline in the number of executives with the largely symbolic title shows a thinning of senior partners, some of whom made millions in goldman<u+2019>s 1999 initial public offering. <u+2014>margot patrick contributed to this article. write to liz hoffman at liz.hoffman@wsj.com and max colchester at max.colchester@wsj.com
michael sherwood quits as head of goldman sachs in europe  - wsj
liz hoffman max colchester