Last week John Thain reassured Merrill Lynch staff of his commitment to the cause when he said he wasn’t a "Goldman guy" any more. But in approaching Thomas Montag to run Merrill’s beleagured trading operation, he is turning to Goldman, where he used to work, to haul his new employer out of its sub-prime mess.

Trying to hire Montag is sensible. Goldman has avoided most of the fallout from the collapse of the US sub-prime mortgage market, and Montag was one of a triumvirate of traders who have made Goldman’s securities business the best on the street.