Goldman's Jim Esposito to Help Lead Trading in Solomon's Latest Move

(Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. named Jim Esposito co-head of its trading division, almost three months after the unit’s most-senior leaders departed.

Esposito will join Ashok Varadhan to help lead Goldman Sachs’s largest division, according to an internal memo, in a move that ends leadership questions caused by the departure of Pablo Salame and Isabelle Ealet earlier this year. Esposito, who rose up through the banking division, will continue to be based in London.

The revamp marks another step in the David Solomon era taking shape at Goldman Sachs after the firm officially identified him as the successor to Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein last month. Solomon has already carried out an expansion of the bank’s management committee -- its top decision-making body -- and is expected to make other changes in coming months as he builds out his team.

His pick of Esposito also indicates Solomon handing more responsibility to those he’s worked with most closely. Esposito previously held senior roles in the investment-banking unit at a time when Solomon was running that group.

Goldman Sachs’s trading leadership has been under pressure after the fixed-income business posted its lowest revenue in Blankfein’s tenure in 2017, driven by the worst commodities performance in the firm’s almost 20 years as a public company. The first half of this year signaled a rebound as trading revenue jumped 24 percent.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sridhar Natarajan in New York at snatarajan15@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, Steve Dickson

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