Goldman’s Ex-Merchant Banking Co-Head Joins SEC as Top Adviser

(Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s former co-head of merchant banking has joined the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to advise on policy, including its response to coronavirus-fueled volatility.

Sumit Rajpal will serve on a committee of officials that Wall Street’s top regulator has set up to monitor markets during the COVID-19 crisis, the SEC said in a Friday statement. His title is senior policy adviser.

“His depth of experience in financial markets and regulation will be a benefit to the agency,” S.P. Kothari, who heads the SEC’s division of economic and risk analysis, said in the statement. Rajpal will assist on pandemic issues and “in our ongoing work across the agency to assess the interconnectedness of our financial markets,” Kothari added.

At Goldman, Rajpal oversaw investments in private equity, infrastructure, credit and real estate, the SEC said. He previously worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Co.

It’s not the first time SEC Chairman Jay Clayton has hired a Goldman executive to advise on vexing market issues. In 2017, Clayton brought on Alan Cohen, who had spent 13 years as head of compliance at the New York-based bank, to serve as a senior adviser to help the SEC with financial rules impacted by Brexit -- the U.K.’s separation from the European Union.

Clayton himself counted Goldman as a client when he was a partner at law firm Sullivan & Cromwell before joining the SEC in 2017. And Clayton’s wife is a former wealth manager at the bank.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.