Chairman J. Michael Evans will retire from his position at year-end, the bank said on Monday, eliminating a top rival of Chief Operating Officer Gary Cohn in the race to become the next head of Wall Street's biggest investment bank. Evans, 56, is one of the most senior executives at Goldman and has led a number of big divisions. He is global head of growth markets, and played a central role in Goldman's expansion into Asia as well as its reputational rehabilitation after the financial crisis. Inside Goldman, his departure was seen as a sign that Cohn had solidified his position as the next likely CEO to succeed Lloyd Blankfein, sources familiar with the matter said. Blankfein has said repeatedly that he has no immediate plans to step down, there is constant chatter about when he will retire and who will succeed him. Blankfein, 59, has been in the job since June 2006, making him the second-longest serving big-bank CEO behind JPMorgan Chase & Co's Jamie Dimon. Cohn is seen by many inside and outside the bank as a leading contender, though other names suggested by insiders include Vice Chairman Michael Sherwood, Chief Financial Officer Harvey Schwartz and David Solomon, co-head of Goldman's investment bank. Evans started at Goldman in 1993 as an investment banker and became partner the following year. He garnered attention for his role as co-chair of Goldman's internal Business Standards Committee, which reviewed the bank's practices leading up to the financial crisis and implemented new protocol for approving transactions. He was awarded nearly $12 million in compensation for his work last year, and earned another $21 million through his investments in funds the bank manages, according to the investment bank's latest proxy. Evans is expected to take some time off before pursuing another opportunity in the financial industry or elsewhere. He was on the short list of people under consideration to become the head of Canada's central bank last year, and is involved in several nonprofits. Before heading to Wall Street, he won an Olympic gold medal on Canada's rowing team in 1984. He lives in New York with his Norwegian wife, Lise Evans. The couple has eight children among them, including six from prior marriages.

NEW DELHI: Banks will be allowed to sell only standard or vanilla insurance products through their branches following the relaxation of brokerage norms by the sectoral regulator Irda, said a finance Ministry official.

The move is aimed at ensuring that lenders do not sell customised insurance products where risk assessment is more complex.

It will also address various concerns of the Reserve Bank, including those pertaining to conflict of interest. RBI does not want banks to undertake new risk in the form of insurance broker.

"Products with same features will not only prevent mis- selling but also ensure that customers can chose a product based on the performance and efficiency of the insurer," the official said.

Irda will ensure that all products sold through banks are standardised in terms of features and commission structure, the official added.

A broking licence will allow a bank to sell products of multiple insurance firms, compared with the current bancassurance model that allows lenders to sell products of just one life and non-life insurance company.

Banks have wide network of delivery channel, over 1 lakh branches, which can be leveraged to increase insurance penetration in the country.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram in his budget speech this year had said: "Banks will be permitted to act as insurance brokers so that the entire network of bank branches will be utilised to increase penetration."

Life insurance penetration in the country is as low as 4.4 per cent of GDP.

Last month, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) notified rules allowing banks to act as brokers of insurance companies, a process termed as bancassurance.

As per the norms, there is no capital requirement for insurance broking business carried out by banks, according to Irda (Licencing of Banks as Insurance Brokers) Regulations, 2013.

To qualify for the licence, each bank will have to have the principal officer - an officer of general manager or equivalent category, who is appointed exclusively to carry out the functions of an insurance broker.

The licence, once issued, will be valid for three years from the date of issue, it said, adding that the renewal of licence can be applied 30 days before expiry of licence.

Every insurance broker will, before the commencement of the business, deposit and keep deposits with any scheduled bank as sum of Rs 50 lakh, it said.

 

 

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