Among changes, the New York-based business has formed a consumer and wealth management division, while folding merchant banking and asset management into a single unit.

Goldman Sachs is folding a number of its business lines into new divisions, taking effect from the start of January 2020, the US firm confirmed to Family Wealth Report today.

The US organization is aligning its private wealth and consumer businesses in a consumer and wealth management division to serve individual clients across the wealth spectrum; it will be led by Stephanie Cohen and Tucker York. Separately, it is putting merchant banking and asset management businesses under one roof in an asset management division, which will be led by Eric Lane and Julian Salisbury. The details came from a memo from David Solomon, CEO, and others, seen by this publication. 

Tucker York, who is global head of wealth management and joined the firm in 1986, was named a partner in 2000. Stephanie Cohen is chief strategy officer, joining the US firm in 1999, and has been a partner since 2014. Eric Lane is global co-head of the consumer and investment management division, joining Goldman in 1996. He was made a partner in 2002. Julian Salisbury serves as global head of the merchant banking division; he joined the firm in 1998 and was made a partner in 2008.

Commenting on the consumer and wealth business, Goldman Sachs said: “Our teams in the division will work together to further grow our industry-leading, global ultra-high net worth business, expand our high net worth business and build Marcus by Goldman Sachs, a leading digital consumer bank that will help millions of consumers manage their financial lives.”

Goldman Sachs has been flexing its wealth management muscles. In 2019 it bought United Capital for $750 million in cash, giving the firm a larger chance to win more HNW clients, adding to its coverage of the UHNW space. Earlier in September this year, it bought Folio Financial, an execution, clearing and custody platform that serves independent Registered Investment Advisors. 

“Our teams across the division will continue to engage directly with clients around the world, including sovereign wealth funds, public and private pension funds, endowments, foundations, insurance companies and corporations, as well as third-party financial intermediaries, to better deliver our full suite of world-class solutions across liquidity, fixed income, equities and alternatives,” the firm said.

On the asset management/merchant banking changes, the firm said: “We previously unified five different investing platforms, establishing broad-based teams across all alternative asset classes, while creating a centralized alternative capital markets and strategy effort to drive our fundraising plans forward. With this next step of joining our efforts across alternative and traditional asset management, Eric and Julian will continue to lead our strategy to evolve with our clients by designing strategies and products that reflect their total portfolio needs.”