FINM7407 ASSIGNMENT
Semester 2 2022
“Goldman Sachs: Anchoring Standards After The Financial Crisis”
Assignment weight 20% (total marks 100)

Assignment questions
As a starting point, carefully read “Goldman Sachs: Anchoring Standards After The
Financial Crisis” (see URL on Blackboard under “Assessment\Assignment”). Please use this case
as a background, together with your reading and understanding of the lecture/textbook and
other publications from academic journals, to carefully develop your answers to the four questions
listed below:
1. What were the major factors that led to the 2007/2008 financial crisis? [10 marks]

2. If you were Lloyd Blankfein, how would you characterize the problem that the BSC aimed
to solve? [20 marks]
3. Do you think that what the BSC has done will solve the problem? What has been
addressed? And what has gone unaddressed? [30 marks]
4. How would you sustain strong business standards over the long-term? [30 marks]

The remaining 10 marks out of possible total 100 marks will be allocated to the quality of
references used and formatting.
Two submission links
You are required to submit your assignment in “pdf” file two times. The deadline for
submissions is 10 October 2022 at 2:00pm
Link 1. Upload your file to the link named “Assignment Similarity Report”
Link 2. Upload your file to the link named “Assignment Blackboard Submission”
Please note that Link 1 is for checking similarity between your assignment and others while
Link 2 is for marking your assignment. Your assignment will only be marked if the marker
can find your assignment work in both Link 1 and Link 2.


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Submission format

The length of your submission should be 8 to 10 pages of text excluding list of references,
and figures and tables that may be placed after the list of references. Use 1.5 line spacing, 11 font
size ‘Times New Roman’, ‘Normal’ margins, justified paragraphs and page numbering in the
bottom right-hand side (similar to this document). Please insert your full name (family name
entered last in capital letters) and eight-digit student number as a header on every page of your
submission (see the sample header of this document).
Your submission file must be in “pdf” format and name with your first name, last name,
and student ID (FIRST_LAST_STUDENT ID). For example, the first name of the student is
Lily and the surname of the student is Nguyen, her student ID is 12345678, then the submission
file should be named as: LILY_NGUYEN_12345678
As a rule of thumb, using shorter paragraphs or sentences improve readability. Footnotes should
be kept to a minimum. An introduction and conclusion are needed in your answer to each question
(except question # 1) but not for the overall submission (see assessment rubric posted on
Blackboard under Assessment). Please make sure we can clearly follow where one section ends
and the other begins, i.e. use sub-headings to guide the reader. The sub-headings corresponding
to the aforementioned four questions in the write-up that should be used are:
(i) Major factors causing the 2007/2008 financial crisis
(ii) Problem, recommendations and BSC
(iii) BSC’s recommendations accomplished, unaccomplished and action plan
(iv) Sustain BSC’s accomplishments

Further helpful guidelines for scoring marks on your assignment
 There could be more than one answer acceptable to the examiners. However, it is your
responsibility to clearly defend your answers in a coherent manner in your written submission. That is,
providing vague comments or disjointed arguments are not acceptable answers. Similarly, any
jargon or acronym should be followed by a brief definition or explanation when first used, e.g.
shadow banking, repos, ABS or OFC.
 Once again, you need to pay close attention to your arguments being coherent from one
question to the next. A better approach is to address both sides of an argument (i.e. pros and
cons), and either stop there, or if you feel strongly about taking a position, clarify why you are
doing so. Once again, as long as your arguments are presented coherently, either approach
would be acceptable for assessment purposes.
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 It is good practice to initially develop your answers without worrying about the prescribed
length. Once you believe you have completed your literature review (i.e. reading what others
have published), you can then work towards polishing and cutting it down to size.
 A lot has been written about global financial crisis (GFC) of 2007-09 and on Goldman Sach’s
approach towards the financial crisis. It can help your understanding, and thereby, improve
your answers, if you find, say, 6-7 solid sources/references and consider their views (you can
cite more if you wish but not less). Limit your references to either academic journal articles
(you can start your search in Web of Science or Scopus), or reports from various institutions
such as the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, or other similarly reputable sources you
may encounter; please note that newspaper articles or simply websites not related to regulatory
bodies are not acceptable. UQ Library staffs are there to help you. Also, don’t forget to check
out readings posted on Blackboard under ‘Learning Resources, Miscellaneous Readings’; the
readings posted on Blackboard can count towards the required number of references
mentioned above if you deem them relevant.
 Please be aware that plagiarism, partly defined as copying and pasting someone else’s words
into your assignment without proper acknowledgement, is unacceptable at UQ. Similarly,
when you report someone else’s comments or ideas, you need to fully and clearly
acknowledge the source right next to it. Sources you use are listed under ‘References’ that
starts on a new page at the end of the main text before any figures and tables, using the
Harvard Referencing Style (see Blackboard under Assessment). It is also good practice to
paraphrase other authors’ words, which would indicate your level of understanding; avoid making long
direct quotations. Nevertheless, a few short direct quotations may be used to emphasise what you
consider to be important points in your submission.

Learning objectives associated with the assignment

1. Investigate the operations of financial institutions.
2. Question issues related to global financial crisis 2007/2008.
3. Understanding the rigorous internal assessment of Goldman Sachs and reaffirm its core
values.
Marking guide
Please refer the assignment rubric file under the assignment folder.