Goldman Sachs does not take accusations that it is the antichrist or a blood sucking vampire lightly. It’s already engaged in a legal battle with the GoldmanSachs666 website (the owner of which has recently had a major heart attack), and is now going all out to defend itself against dastardly aspersions cast upon its goodness by Rolling Stone magazine. Lucas Van Praag, the firm’s notoriously straight speaking spokesperson told The New York Post that the firm would dearly like to be seen as a force for good, having said something similar to Felix Salmon earlier in the week.

Goldman’s defence of its virtue is understandable. According to a survey released in April, it’s plummeted to the bottom six of the 153 biggest companies in the US in terms of corporate reputation, and is now on a par with Citigroup, AIG and Halliburton. As we noted recently, however, MBA students are still inordinately keen to work there.

"I like the Goldman Sachses, the Morgan Stanleys and the JPMorgans." (CNBC)

Beware the Wall Street salary monster. (Wall St. Journal)

JPMorgan mulling pay rises. (NY Post)

If you have the 50% tax rate on top of too much regulation, you will find Switzerland a very popular place for bankers to be. (Guardian)

Onetime senior M&A banker at UBS launches new green technology boutique. (Reuters)

Sweden rides to the defence of hedge funds. (FT)

BofA hires head of energy banking. (Bloomberg)

Bank woes deepening in Europe. (NY Times)

EU regulator may require divestments at Lloyds and RBS. (Wall Street Journal)

More on the Lloyds redundancies. (Bloomberg)

UK banks have cut 55,000 jobs to keep the government happy. (Bloomberg)

Northern Rock Tesco. (The Times)