Goldman Sachs hiring hundreds in HK, China

Goldman Sachs Group has been on an unprecedented hiring spree in mainland China and Hong Kong in the first four months of the year, Bloomberg reports.

The bank is in the process of hiring 320 staff, including 70 to focus on investment banking coverage, said a person familiar with the matter, who asked not be identified discussing confidential information. It is planning to add another 100 employees through the rest of 2021, with many of the additions this year filling newly created roles, the person said.

Goldman and its rivals are vying for talent as China opens its US$54 trillion financial market fully to foreign brokerages and asset managers. After being slowed by the pandemic, regional head Todd Leland is now racing to implement a China strategy that includes gaining 100 percent of a securities venture and setting up a new asset management unit on the mainland.

The five-year plan presented to the board in late 2019 envisioned doubling Goldman’s workforce to 600 in China, and expanding in advisory, securities and wealth management.

A media representative in Hong Kong declined to comment on the hires.

Other firms such as UBS Group AG, Credit Suisse Group AG and HSBC Holdings Plc have outlined plans to add what amounts to thousands of workers in China.