By Matt Scuffham and Noor Zainab Hussain
(Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Inc (N:GS) has invited 60 executives to become partners, beginning Jan. 1, nearly half of them from diverse backgrounds, the bank said on Thursday.
Goldman's partners collectively own a small stake in the firm and are the bank's most elite employees, typically taking home million-dollar salary packages and having access to lucrative investment opportunities. https://
The bank said 47% of this year's class are either women, Black, Asian or Latino. Forty-three are based in the Americas, with 13 in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, three in the Asia-Pacific region and one in Bengaluru.
Sixteen of the new partners are women, it said.
Chief Executive Officer David Solomon has said he wants to move faster to increase diversity among the bank’s senior ranks.
Goldman has set some of the most aggressive and specific goals among the big banks, requiring that more Black, Latino and female professionals be interviewed and hired for jobs at the bank. The bank interviews at least two diverse candidates for any senior job opening. Despite that, Solomon has said the bank is not increasing diversity fast enough.
Goldman's partnership ranks have nearly doubled since the bank went public in 1999, but have shrunk over the last decade as part of a strategy to make the Wall Street bank less top-heavy. Under Solomon, who took over as the bank's chief executive officer in 2018, that trend has continued.
Goldman named 69 new partners two years ago during Solomon's first year in the role.