Goldman Sachs loses two senior Asia bankers amid regional turnover

Goldman Sachs is facing another test of its Asia franchise as two senior bankers prepare to leave, adding to a run of departures that has already unsettled the region’s leadership bench. The exits, including Cathy Chan and Michelle Wang, come after roughly seven years in Goldman’s Asia business and land at a moment when the firm is still trying to prove that its regional overhaul is more than a structural shuffle.

The timing matters because the departures do not stand alone. Goldman has been losing senior China coverage for months, and the latest move follows the loss of Zhang Yi, whom JPMorgan Chase hired to co-head its China investment banking business. That made Zhang Goldman’s second senior China banker to leave in two months, a pattern that signals more than ordinary turnover. In a market where senior rainmakers carry client relationships, product coordination and promotion pathways for younger bankers, repeated exits can quickly become a morale issue as well as a business one.

The broader backdrop has not helped. Across Asia, senior dealmakers at global banks have been leaving for corporate roles as compensation swings with a volatile bonus cycle. At least half a dozen senior bankers in the region have stepped away from Wall Street roles for those opportunities, underscoring how quickly the market for experienced talent can shift when pay visibility weakens and exit options improve. For Goldman, that kind of churn raises the risk that the next generation of bankers sees Asia less as a long-term platform and more as a stepping-stone.

Goldman tried to tighten that platform last May, when it combined its Japan, Australia and New Zealand, and Asia ex-Japan investment banking businesses into one Asia Pacific unit led by Iain Drayton. The move was meant to improve advisory coverage and capital-markets execution across the region. But the continuing departures suggest the reorganization has not yet solved the harder problem of leadership stability. For bankers inside the firm, the question now is whether the APAC reset will steady the franchise or simply mark another chapter in a long period of regional turnover.