US Senate Panel Grills Goldman Boss

Goldman Sachs' chief executive has denied his bank contributed to the US financial crisis by betting some of its own investment products would fail.

Lloyd Blankfein and other executives at the Wall Street giant were accused by a US Senate panel of acting unethically, while Americans lost jobs and homes, reports BBC.

Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said Goldman had caused widespread harm to American society.

"They're buying something from you, and you are betting against it. And you want people to trust you? I wouldn't trust you," Mr Levin told Blankfein who said clients came looking for risk "and that's what they got."

He also said clients had wanted an investment that would give them exposure to the housing market.

"Unfortunately, the housing market went south very quickly... so people lost money in it", he said, insisting that it did not mean Goldman had acted improperly.

Our clients' trust is not only important to us, it's essential to us. That's why we are a successful firm," he said.

Lloyd Blankfein - who said late last year he was "doing God's work" - was the last of seven past and present Goldman executives to testify.

The hearing comes as the US Congress considers the most sweeping reform of the financial industry since the 1930s.
During hours of hostile questioning on Tuesday, Goldman executives were accused of marketing some investments that the bank's own staff dismissed as "junk."