US bank Goldman Sachs is fighting a backlash against its plans to share profits with staff by opening a fund that will use the equivalent of about 2.3 percent of staff remuneration, or $500 million to help 10,000 small businesses. The bank Tuesday 17 November apologized publicly for the role it played in the global economic crisis. Goldman has recovered, with analysts saying they expect it to pay close to $22 billion in compensation to staff in 2009. Warren Buffett, a Goldman investor who will oversee the small business programme, told the FT it is not designed to compensate for the bank’s errors.

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