Robert Rubin

Quick facts

• Born: August 29, 1938, Miami Beach, Florida
• Education: Harvard College, economics, summa cum laude (1960); Yale Law School (1964)
• Known for: Personifying the Wall Street–Treasury “revolving door”; Clinton-era financial deregulation; opposition to derivatives regulation; advocacy for repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act
• Reported earnings: Estimated ~$100 million personal fortune from 26 years at Goldman Sachs (per profile research); $126 million in total compensation from Citigroup over 1999-2009 (per Euromoney / Wall Street on Parade)

Key positions

Biography

Robert Edward Rubin was born in 1938 in Miami Beach, Florida, and educated at Harvard College (economics, summa cum laude, 1960) and Yale Law School (1964). After two years as an attorney at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, he joined Goldman Sachs in 1966 and spent 26 years there, rising from associate in the risk-arbitrage department to co-chairman (1990-1992) alongside Stephen Friedman. He accumulated an estimated personal fortune of roughly $100 million during his Goldman tenure (per profile research).

Bill Clinton appointed Rubin as the first Director of the National Economic Council in 1993, then Treasury Secretary in 1995. His tenure was defined by financial deregulation. On February 28, 1995, he announced administration support for repealing the Glass-Steagall Act, calling the 1933 banking law outdated. When CFTC Chair Brooksley Born issued a May 7, 1998 concept release seeking comment on regulating the over-the-counter derivatives market, Rubin joined Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt in a joint statement — issued within hours — expressing “grave concern about this action and its possible consequences”; his deputy Larry Summers led the campaign against Born, who later resigned in 1999. Time magazine’s February 15, 1999 cover featured Rubin, Greenspan, and Summers as “The Committee to Save the World.”

In October 1999 — about three months after resigning from Treasury and roughly a month before Glass-Steagall’s formal repeal under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (November 12, 1999) — Rubin joined Citigroup, the institution formed by the 1998 Citicorp-Travelers merger whose Federal Reserve waiver he had supported as Treasury Secretary. As Chairman of the Executive Committee he held no operational responsibilities but earned $126 million in total compensation over 1999-2009 (per Euromoney). Rubin has said he was unaware of roughly $43 billion in high-risk mortgage securities on Citigroup’s books until the subprime crisis surfaced in 2007. During the 2008 crisis, Citigroup received about $476 billion in government support ($45 billion in direct funds plus roughly $431 billion in guarantees).

In 2016, Fortune reported that the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission had referred its findings to the Justice Department, raising the question of whether Rubin may have broken the law during the crisis; no charges were brought. Critical reassessments of his legacy appeared across the financial press, including a Bloomberg piece, “Rethinking Robert Rubin” (September 30, 2012).

Sources

• Robert E. Rubin (1995-1999) — U.S. Department of the Treasury — official biographical and tenure details
• Robert Rubin — Wikipedia — biographical and career timeline (Goldman Sachs, NEC, Treasury, Citigroup)
• The Revolving Door, Robert Rubin, and Citigroup — Sunlight Foundation, November 24, 2008
• Citigroup: The shame of Robert Rubin — Euromoney — Rubin’s Citigroup compensation and role
• Here’s why a special commission thought Robert Rubin may have broken the law during the financial crisis — Fortune, March 13, 2016
• Rethinking Robert Rubin — Bloomberg, September 30, 2012