I've heard about analysts having conflicts of interest, but this one takes the cake. Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) CEO Lloyd Blankfein actually called VTB Group CEO Andrei Kostin to apologize for an analyst's sell rating on the company's stock. Why would he do that? Bloomberg sums it up:

The situation highlights the tension U.S. investment banks face wooing clients in developing markets while complying with regulations at home that compel them to publish independent research. Goldman, which lags behind competitors in Russia, is adding 25 bankers in Moscow this year to tap what it considers the country's ``huge potential.''

Goldman worked on the bank's May IPO. While it's tempting to decry this as a sign of a lack of analyst independence, I think it's actually the opposite: This has all been done out in the open, and the analyst's report on the company was allowed to be published. That's a far cry from what might have happened a few years ago.

So while Blankfein's pandering is pathetic, we can take some encouragement from the fact that report is still available.

• Read about the exit of Goldman Sachs' star Mark McGoldrick