Goldman Sachs hit by further departures in Asia equities

GOLDMAN Sachs Group has been hit by additional departures in its Asia equities team, with key exits in Tokyo and Hong Kong to rival banks and hedge funds.

Among those that left recently are managing directors Fredrik Grunberger in Hong Kong and Tomiyuki Oji and David Williams in Tokyo, according to people familiar with the matter. Oji is poised to join Nomura Holdings, the people said, asking not to be identified as the details are private.

Alexis Tsang has also left after being named co-head of Greater China equities sales less than a year ago and has joined Millennium Capital Management. Jig Patel, chief operating officer of Asia-Pacific prime services, is also leaving the US bank to take a senior regional role at Izzy Englander’s more than US$58 billion hedge fund firm, said the people. Patel has been with Goldman Sachs for 28 years, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Goldman has seen a wave of departures of veterans in its Asia equities business. Among those was Canute Dalmasse, the firm’s co-head of equities distribution and execution for Asia-Pacific. Four other senior executives also left over the past 12 months.

Goldman has one of the biggest pools of veteran talent in Asia for equities, which has made it a prime poaching ground for rivals.

A spokesperson at the US bank declined to comment.

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Revenue at the bank’s global equities business slid 7 per cent to US$3 billion, beating expectations, in the first quarter from a year earlier, according to a report released on Tuesday (Apr 18).

Grunberger joined Goldman Sachs in April 2004 and held positions including head of Asia equity cross product sales, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Williams has been with the New York-based investment bank since 1998 and Oji since 2008, according to LinkedIn.

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Goldman’s equities trading in Asia-Pacific has been run by Dmitri Potishko, who was recently named co-head of global flow derivatives and emerging markets trading. BLOOMBERG