Goldman Sachs Group Inc. elevated four executives in Asia in its biennial partner promotions, less than half the number from 2018, even as the region maintained its contribution to the US bank’s global revenue.
Only 7% of the partners promoted this year were based in Asia, compared to 14% two years back, according to Goldman’s earlier announcement. The new partners are Christina Ma and Ales Sladic from global markets and Michael Hui in asset management, all based in Hong Kong, as well as Gunjan Samtani from engineering in India. Goldman, the last major private firm on Wall Street, promoted 10 employees from the region in 2018.
Globally, Goldman picked 60 employees for its newest batch of partners, the fewest since 1998, a year before it went public. Chief Executive Officer David Solomon has said he’s trying to limit the partnership ranks to restore the exclusivity of the group, and had already tightened the reins in his first selection process as CEO in 2018, elevating just 69 partners when he was one month into his tenure.
The number of people joining the new partner class is the lowest in years for Asia, after the share of women and Black executives scoring promotions increased globally. In 2018, Goldman promoted Sean Fan and Li Zheng from the merchant banking group and investment banking team respectively, as it is seeking to expand its onshore presence in China. It also elevated executives in Sydney, Tokyo and Hong Kong at banking and securities divisions.
Asia contributed 14% of the net revenue to the group in the first nine months, up from 12% a year ago and unchanged from 2018. Still, the bank’s reputation has taken a hit in the region following yearslong probes into its fundraising for the scandal-plagued Malaysian fund known as 1MDB. The lender earlier this year incurred a record punishment for foreign bribery under a roughly $3 billion package of accords related to those investigations.
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU