(Bloomberg) -- A former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive is once again sitting at the top table of international economic policymaking.
With the appointment of Joerg Kukies as Germany’s new finance minister, there’s a near unbroken record of Goldman Sachs alumnus serving as prime minister, finance minister or central bank chief in at least one Group of Seven nation since early-2006.
That run has earned the bank the nickname “Government Sachs.” Over the last two decades, as many as three Goldman Sachs officials have attended G-7 finance meetings at one time. Kukies, who previously held the role as co-head of the German division, worked for the bank from the early 2000s until 2018.
Goldman Sachs alumni in public office include former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who was at the firm in the early 2000s. Only four months have passed since Sunak resigned and Kukies took the new role. When Sunak rose to office in October 2022, it was just three days since Mario Draghi, another ex-employee of the bank, had stepped down as prime minister of Italy.
Draghi worked for Goldman Sachs at the start of the millennium, and went on to run the Bank of Italy and European Central Bank. Sunak also served as UK Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Former US Treasury secretaries Henry Paulson and Steve Mnuchin also spent time at Goldman Sachs, with Paulson rising to become its chairman and chief executive officer before joining government. The bank also features on the resume of Mark Carney, the former central bank chief in the UK and Canada. Carney is now chair of Bloomberg Inc.
Elsewhere in policymaking, Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler and Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Beth Hammack are also ex-Goldman Sachs employees, as is Jessica Pulay, chief executive of the UK’s Debt Management Office.
For Kukies, it’s possible that his run in government may be short lived. After the collapse of Germany’s ruling coalition this week, elections are likely just around the corner.
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