Goldman Chief Credit Strategist Karoui Exits After 18 Years

(Bloomberg) — Lotfi Karoui, chief credit strategist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., is leaving the Wall Street bank after 18 years, according to an internal memo reviewed by Bloomberg.

Karoui, who is also head of credit, mortgage and structured products research, was named chief credit strategist in 2017 and was among 95 executives promoted to partner in November.

His departure follows Goldman Sachs’ U.S. equity strategist David Kostin retiring from the bank at the end of the year, Bloomberg reported last month.

Karoui joined Goldman in 2007 as a partner in credit strategy research. He became general manager in 2015, according to the statement.

A representative for Goldman confirmed his departure but declined to comment further. Karoui did not respond to requests for comment.

Before joining Goldman, Karoui taught finance and operations research at the undergraduate and graduate level at McGill University and HEC Montreal, according to her profile on the Arab Bankers Association of North America website; Here he received a doctorate in financial economics and a master’s degree in financial engineering, respectively. He is the president of this organization. According to ABANA, Karoui was born and raised in Tunisia.

In one of his latest notes, the strategist downgraded Europe’s investment-grade bonds from neutral to underweight and said sovereign fiscal risk (particularly in France) poses further downside risks to the banking sector.

(The seventh paragraph was updated upon Karoui’s call. In the previous version, the title was corrected in the fourth paragraph.)

More stories like this available Bloomberg.com