Goldman Sachs has let go Paul Murray, a weather derivatives trader in London, less than a year after he joined the firm from Enron, where he was head of weather derivatives. Murray could not be reached. Calls to Stefan van Riet, an official in Goldman's J. Aron commodity trading division to whom Murray is thought to have reported, were referred to the press office. Calls to Goldman's press office in London were not returned.
There were conflicting reports in London last week about whether Goldman still intends to cover the European weather derivatives market. A rival trader said a Goldman official told him the bulge bracket firm is committed to the market, but another rival reported a more ambiguous response from Goldman. One possibility is to provide European coverage via Nishant Dabral, the firm's weather derivatives trader in New York. Dabral was out of the office last week and could not be reached for comment.
Murray's departure appears to be unrelated to performance, according to industry officials. Indeed, several said he was a victim of Goldman's ongoing effort to cut non-core businesses to reduce costs, adding that he made Goldman USD1.5 million this year.
One rival expressed surprise at the move, noting that Goldman has a strong presence in power and gas M&A in Europe and that the ability to trade weather derivatives sits comfortably besides these businesses.
