Empty Seat On The Repo Desk At Goldman Sachs As Painting Departs

The European repo market is rife with speculation about why Mark Painting has left the repo desk at Goldman Sachs to join a hedge fund. The obvious explanation – that he received an offer he could not refuse – may be the right one, but it has not stopped competitors offering political explanations, most of them related to the merger of the equity and fixed income financing desks at Goldman. News that Robin Vince had flown in from New York as soon as Painting left has only increased the intensity of the speculation about what is really happening at Peterborough Court.