Goldman promotes Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan bankers to partner

GOLDMAN Sachs promoted three Japanese nationals to its highest rank of executives, the most in more than a decade, after a revival in local financial markets helped the Wall Street bank enjoy a blockbuster year in the country.

The New York-based firm added Kazuya Iketani, co-head of Japan fixed income, currencies and commodities, to its partnership as part of a biennial ritual to tap a select few to join its highest ranks. The other two are Kosuke Kurosawa, who manages Japan equity and fund core structuring, and Teppei Takanabe, head of the financial institutions group in the country.

It was the first time since 2010 that the bank selected as many as three Japanese employees as partners, according to Tokyo-based spokeswoman Hiroko Matsumoto. The last time any citizen from the country earned that position was in 2018, she said.

Goldman Sachs added the most partners this year since David Solomon became chief executive officer in 2018, reflecting a shift in his earlier preference for keeping the class smaller. The firm has been bulking up the ranks in recent years, partly to replenish the partnership pool after some executives left for more lucrative gigs outside of banking.

Elsewhere in Asia, the bank added three partners in Hong Kong and two in Singapore.

Iketani joined the company as an analyst in yen rates sales in 2006, and was named as a managing director in 2017. Kurosawa also arrived in 2006 as an analyst and became a managing director in 2015. Takanabe joined in 2000 as a capital markets analyst and was made a managing director in 2008.

Goldman Sachs led major investment banks posting higher profits in Japan last year as bond trading boomed, offering a cushion in an otherwise tough environment globally.

The company has been regrouping in the nation as global investors signal renewed interest in the economy. It brought in Hidehiro Imatsu from Hong Kong this year to head its securities subsidiary in Tokyo, following the retirement of long-standing local chief Masanori Mochida. BLOOMBERG