FinancialTrading.com’s 10 Most Influential People in Finance

9. Michael Sherwood

Michael Sherwood joined Goldman and Sachs 2001 as the head of Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities Division for Europe, where he stayed until 2003 when he was made the co-head of their securities division. Shortly after that, in 2005 he purchased Smythson as part of a consortium for £16m (which was later “flipped” for a £2m profit in 2009) and became the co-chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs International. Finally, in 2008 he was given the position of Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs.

That’s quite an impressive CV for a man who is still on the greener side of 50, we’re sure you’ll agree. He holds so much weight at Goldman Sachs that he is regularly their top earner and pulled in $15.8m in share bonuses — even topping the company’s CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, who “only” received $13.6m in shares this year.