Goldman revamps electronic stock trading

NEW YORK: Raj Mahajan achieved a rare when he rejoined Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) last year with the coveted title of partner, the Wall Street bank's highest rank. Then he got to work on fixing the pipes.

That plumbing has to do with the technology Goldman uses to route stock orders to exchanges and private trading pools. The bank has long been one of the top two stock brokerages in terms of revenue and customer rankings. But in recent years Goldman's status slipped in electronic trading because its technology did not keep up with client demands for ever-faster trades.

Goldman hired the tech-savvy Mahajan to revamp the business in March 2015. Since then, he has hired dozens of technologists and support staff to elevate Goldman's position in a fast-growing slice of the market and win back business from its chief competitor, Morgan Stanley.