NEW YORK – Wall Street conventional wisdom holds that a sterling reputation is crucial to winning business and keeping clients. Goldman Sachs may be the exception, according to a new Bloomberg survey.

Fifty-four percent of respondents to the global poll of traders, investors and analysts conducted May 9-10 have an unfavorable opinion of the New York-based bank, more than double the negative rating for JPMorgan Chase. Yet a month after a Senate report said Goldman Sachs misled clients, 78 percent of those surveyed said the accusations will either have no effect on the firm or will harm its reputation without driving away customers.

“Investors will continue to put their money with capable institutions, regardless of their history or morality,” said an email from poll participant Christian Contino, 27, who works as a consultant for the investment-management section of the United Nations’ International Fund for Agricultural Development.

Goldman Sachs, led by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein, survived the financial crisis, unlike some smaller rivals, and has been a target of criticism ever since. The bank agreed to pay $550 million last year to settle a suit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission that alleged Goldman Sachs misled buyers of a mortgage-linked investment that the firm created in 2007.

The Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, led by Michigan Democrat Carl Levin, used Goldman Sachs as a case study in its two-year examination of the financial crisis. When the subcommittee released its 640-page report last month, Levin said Goldman Sachs misled clients and Congress about the firm’s bets on the housing market.

“It seems unlikely that Goldman Sachs has to expect further consequences,” said an email from Daniel Horak, 26, a trader at Erste Sparinvest in Vienna, Austria, who replied in the poll that he had a “mostly unfavorable” view of the firm and that he didn’t expect Goldman Sachs to lose customers.

The company was viewed less favorably than other banks by the 1,263 poll respondents. While 54 percent said they had an unfavorable view of Goldman Sachs, 25 percent felt the same about JPMorgan, 49 percent for Citigroup and 48 percent for Bank of America.

The quarterly Bloomberg Global Poll of investors, traders and analysts who are Bloomberg subscribers was conducted by Selzer & Co. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.

 

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