Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs has been facing negative news flow in recent months — high-profile exits, reports of unhappy partners who have seen sharp cuts in bonus payouts, global layoffs, a U-turn on much-hyped consumer lending plans.
Weathering the storm has been CEO David Solomon, who is leading the board of directors on a sojourn to India, a market he feels is one of the most exciting in the world, although the government does need to make Indian capital markets as friction free as possible for foreign capital, according to him.
Amid meetings with top corporate and startup clients, the Prime Minister and other senior officials, Solomon took time out to speak to Arijit Barman & Bodhisatva Ganguli on a range of topics — the global economy, US regional banks, geopolitical headwinds, corporate earnings, the challenges facing Goldman and, of course, India.
Solomon, 61, said he's not bothered about all the noise, his focus remains on serving clients and the Goldman share price performance. Edited excerpts:
Deglobalisation has shrunk Wall Street’s horizons. In the decade after Goldman Sachs listed, international revenues provided half of your growth. Today they supply a third as local competitors have emerged and some nations have become wary of foreign financiers. Why then bring the board to India after a decade rather than focus on your home market?
Why did we bring our board to India? Two reasons. The first is we have over 8,000 people here in India. It's a super important location to our firm. In terms of number of people, it's the second largest outside of the US. We move our board around the world each year to try to provide a sense of the people, the business platforms, the clients and the interactions. Given our significant presence here, it’s super important for the board to see that firsthand. And as you point out, our board was last here in 2012 and there's a big difference between where Goldman Sachs was then and now.
Read more at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/banking/finance/banking/et-exclusive-people-see-opportunity-when-they-look-at-india-says-goldman-sachs-ceo-david-solomon/articleshow/101318468.cms
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