Wednesday 09 October 2019 8:46 am | Updated: Wednesday 09 October 2019 8:56 am

Goldman Sachs looks to keep bank on track in disaster with ‘extra Wework space’

Malaysian prosecutors today dropped criminal charges against three Goldman Sachs units accused of misleading investors over $6.5bn (£4.9bn) in bond sales they helped organise for scandal-hit state fund 1MDB.

Goldman Sachs is said to have set up a trading floor in a Wework office in London so the bank can keep operating in case of a disaster.

The space comes on top of the US bank’s brand new £1bn, 10-storey HQ in Farringdon, toured by City PM

That houses the company’s 6,500 London employees, and covers more than 1m square feet.

But Goldman’s business continuity programme, listed on its website, hopes to keep the machine running in the case of a major disruption.

This could be anything from a natural disaster, cyber attack of “significant reduction in our workforce due to illness, injury or death”.

The extra Wework site is reportedly part of that programme, meaning the bank’s most important London traders can quickly decamp to another space in an emergency.

Goldman’s new trading floor is in WeWork’s facility on Waterhouse Square in Holborn, a renovated Victorian building.

The existence of the extra site was first reported by the Financial Times.

However, it is unusual to house a major financial group such as Goldman in a shared Wework office.

The startup is better known for fashionably-decorated offices, free bars after work and so-called flexible working spaces.

However, it has looked to attract prestigious financial clients in recent months.

In June, it struck a deal to house more than 1,000 desks for HSBC in its Waterloo office.

Wework woes

Goldman advised Wework on its ill-fated initial public offering (IPO) attempt this summer.

Wework cancelled its planned IPO last month after receiving a frosty reception from investors.

The company had been valued at $47bn following an investment from Softbank earlier in the year, but it had been suggested the IPO was heading to raise less than half of that.

Yesterday, City PM reported a senior Softbank executive had urged firms like Wework to wait until they can demonstrate suitable levels of cash flow before listing publicly.

Saleh Romeih, a managing partner of Softbank’s $100bn (£82bn) Vision Fund was speaking at a Bloomberg event in London.

He said: “It’s about incubating a company long enough so that it’s starting to earn cash flow and ready to go to the market.”