Goldman Sachs Hopes to Double Chinese Staff Numbers by Mid-decade

January 13, 2020

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Wall Street’s Goldman Sachs Group Inc. hopes to dramatically raise its staff numbers over the next five years in response to China’s ongoing opening of the country’s financial sector.

Sources said to Bloomberg that a five-year plan drafted by Goldman Sachs executives envisages an increase in its China-based employees to 600 in total by mid-decade, for a doubling of its staff team.

David Solomon, Chief Executive Officer of Goldman Sachs, has reportedly requested the development of a detailed strategic plan for further expansion in China over the next half-decade.

In August the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) announced that it had received an application from Goldman Sachs to increase its 33% stake in its Chinese joint-venture, Goldman Sachs Gao Hua Securities.

Goldman Sachs reportedly hoped to obtain full ownership in the joint venture as soon as Chinese regulations permit, consistent with its other global operations.

Goldman Sachs Gao Hua was the first joint-venture of its kind when it was launched 15 years ago in 2004 under the leadership of then-Goldman chair and chief executive Henry Paulson.

The joint-venture enjoys close ties to leading Chinese investors and institutions, and is partially owned by Legend Holdings.

Goldman Sachs is far from the only major global investment bank to seek to capitalise upon Beijing’s commitment to further financial opening.

In December 2019 JPMorgan obtained approval from Chinese regulators to found a majority-owned securities joint-venture – the first Wall Street bank to do so.

In December 2018 UBS became the first foreign bank to garner approval from CSRC to obtain majority ownership in its domestic joint-venture, grabbing the greenlight to increase its stake in Beijing-based UBS Securities from 24.99% to 51%.

Credit Suisse, JPMorgan and Nomura have also all applied to obtain majority stakes in their Chinese security joint-ventures, with Japan’s Nomura grabbing permission for a majority-stake joint-venture in November.

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