Goldman Sachs to promote highest number of executives to managing director since 2021
The promotions include 34 from Hong Kong and 13 from Singapore
[NEW YORK] Wall Street lender Goldman Sachs will promote 638 executives to managing director next year, the highest number since 2021, a company memo said, as the bank benefits from a pickup in investment banking across the industry.
Goldman Sachs has been leading Wall Street’s rankings for mergers and acquisitions as its fee volumes surged close to levels seen in 2021.
The Wall Street firm announces managing director promotions every two years, and the number of bankers being promoted this time around exceeds the 608 senior bankers it promoted two years ago.
“It’s been really great in my seat in terms of the work that we do looking after the positioning performance and also the investment postures for our hedge fund clients based on our data,” Vincent Lin, co-head of prime insights and analytics at Goldman, told Reuters.
Lin was among the executives elevated to managing director in the latest round of promotions. “It’s been great to use this opportunity, and the work that we do to connect with clients to guide them through turbulent times and also through calmer times,” said Lin, adding that Goldman would look to expand its prime insights team globally across regions like Asia and Europe in the near term.
More than 70 per cent of the latest promotions come from revenue-generating businesses, but unlike previous years, Goldman did not break down how many came from global banking and markets or global asset and wealth units.
Goldman’s managing director level is the last stop before executives are promoted to the bank’s partnership. The latest round of promotions come as Wall Street bonuses are expected to rise for a second straight year for traders and investment bankers on surging deal volume and market volatility.
Goldman Sachs’ main divisions have been headed by men since 2024, when Stephanie Cohen, then global head of platform solutions division, left the firm.
Among the latest promotions, 31 per cent are Asian, 3 per cent Black and 4 per cent Hispanic or Latino, the memo from CEO David Solomon and president John Waldron said.
In Asia-Pacific, Goldman promoted 78 to managing directors, or about 12 per cent of the global total, according to the spokesman. The biggest number of promotions came from the key global banking and markets division, where 47 were elevated.
Hong Kong had 34 promotions and Singapore had 13. In Tokyo, the bank has elevated 15 to managing director, up from 10 in 2023. The US bank has been boosting dealmaking in Japan as an economic recovery and an overhaul in corporate governance generates more opportunities.
In India, the bank promoted six people in Mumbai, the largest class on record. In addition to that, a total of 43 people in Bengaluru and Hyderabad – where the firm’s global capability centres are based – were named managing directors.
Globally, Goldman promoted the smallest proportion of women to managing directors since Solomon took the top job in 2018. Asia had a slightly higher share, with women managing directors accounting for 32 per cent.
The bank beat Wall Street expectations for third-quarter profit, as its investment bankers earned higher advisory fees and rallying markets boosted revenue from managing client assets.
Goldman has, however, lost more than a dozen senior investment bankers this year, a higher number than normal, after internal shake-ups and a sluggish start to 2025 drove them to seek new opportunities, Reuters reported earlier, citing sources familiar with the situation. REUTERS, BLOOMBERG
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