Goldman and JP Morgan set to fire 30 analysts for cheating on tests

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is dismissing about 20 analysts globally in offices including London and New York after discovering they had breached rules on internal training tests, said people familiar with the matter. The employees, who had been working in the investment bank’s securities division, have either already been dismissed or are in the process of leaving the bank, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the matter is private. The junior- banker title doesn’t refer to research analysts who recommend stocks to investors. JPMorgan Chase & Co., the biggest U.S. bank, fired 10 employees for similar offenses last month, a person briefed on the matter said Friday. “This conduct was not just a clear violation of the rules, but completely inconsistent with the values we foster at the firm,” said Sebastian Howell, a Goldman Sachs spokesman in London, who said he couldn’t comment further. Bankers throughout Wall Street often assist each other on basic training and compliance tests because these are seen as time consuming and repetitive, according to separate people with knowledge of the process. Investment banks have started taking strict measures to prevent this from happening in recent years amid increasing scrutiny from regulators.