Goldman to swell to record size in Singapore

US bank plans 100 tech hires in city-state

“We are looking to really grow our franchise here across all products. It’s a significant and major client hub from banking clients to asset managers.”

E.G. Morse

SINGAPORE: Goldman Sachs Group Inc plans to add about 100 staff in Singapore, taking its headcount in the South-east Asian financial hub to a record, following a tumultuous period in the region.

All of the new positions will mainly be in technology, and the appointments will take the number of employees in the city to more than 1,000, E.G. Morse, head of Goldman Sachs’ regional operations, said in an interview. About 60% of existing staff work in support and technology roles.

Goldman Sachs provides services such as investment banking, asset management, wealth management, securities and commodities trading out of its Singapore hub.

The US bank’s Asia operations contributed 14% of its global revenue last year.

“We are looking to really grow our franchise here across all products,” Morse said. “It’s a significant and major client hub from banking clients to asset managers.”

Singapore is becoming the focus of Goldman Sachs’ regional strategy.

The bank joins global rivals expanding in the island state given its status as a rapidly growing wealth management centre and an alternative to Hong Kong, which has been plagued by political unrest.

Goldman Sachs has hired 10 global macro traders in Singapore over the past 18 months and may add more wealth managers and commodity traders, Morse said. It also joined the likes of Jpmorgan Chase & Co and BNP Paribas SA to set up a foreign-exchange trading and pricing platform in the city that started operations this year.

While acknowledging that the 1MDB scandal – which saw Goldman Sachs pay about Us$5bil in fines to regulators from the United States to Malaysia and Singapore – hurt its reputation, Morse emphasised that the controversy hasn’t impacted the bank’s hiring plans in Asia.

Over much of a decade, 1MDB became shorthand for one of the world’s most daring heists – a conspiracy that spawned probes in Asia, the United States. and Europe. Authorities spent years tracking funds that allegedly flowed from the fund formally known as 1Malaysia Development Bhd into high-end art and real estate, a super yacht and a hit Hollywood movie.

In October, Goldman Sachs sealed a pact with the US Justice Department and other regulators that had been investigating the firm’s role in raising billions for 1MDB that were later siphoned off. The board vowed to hold current and former executives accountable by seeking clawbacks, forfeitures and pay deductions.

Apart from being “a global reputational issue for the firm” the scandal “hasn’t had significant impact to how we service clients in the region,” said Morse, who also heads fixed income, currencies and commodities sales in the Asia-pacific region, excluding Japan. “1MDB has not been an obstacle for us to hire the people that we have been hiring across the firm,” he said.

In Malaysia, the focal point of the controversy, Goldman Sachs continues to operate businesses such as asset management, advisory services and debt capital markets.

“We are open to having dialogue with clients in Malaysia,” Morse said.

“It’s a gradual process of re-engagement.”