Goldman Sachs to Set Up Malaysia Office

Goldman Sachs, the world renowned investment banking, is ready to set up their first office in Malaysia after given the all-clear by the Malaysian government as part of the liberalization announced by the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

The office will handle the fund management and corporate operations in the country. The bank’s global headquarter is located in Lower Manhattan, New York City.

The liberalization effort was introduced in an attempt to shift the country towards being a high growth nation through a vibrant service sector and reduce the dependency to export-oriented model, which suffered a massive setback during the recent financial crisis. The neighbor, Singapore, knows best as the country that depended highly on the export market plunged into a deep crisis and became the first country in Asia to enter recession, despite being the richest country in the South East Asia.

For over two decades, Bank Negara (the Central Bank) has not issued any new banking licenses in order to prevent foreign banks competing with the local banks and eat them, which are much smaller in size, alive.

Last year, Goldman Sachs almost went bankrupt before the intervention by the US government through a massive bailout exercise prevented the company from collapsing. Almost a year later, it was back to its glory days after recording a healthy profit of in excess of $3 billion thanks to the resurging stock prices, vibrant trading and the returning of the financial market towards stabilization. It was estimated that the bank would pay on average $700,000 bonus to its staff, the highest in the history of over 100 years of its establishment. Amazing.

Other posts you may want to read:

1. Goldman Sachs Ready for Record Bonus
2. Banks – Will There Be Bonus?
3. JPMorgan Tops as World’s Strongest Bank
4. Maybank Named Best Domestic Private Bank
5. 5 New Banks to Operate in Malaysia
6. Top Executives Declining Year-End Bonus
7. US Graduates Not Keen on Bank Jobs
8. Singapore Slumps Into Recession

Author's bio: Zul is the founder and principal contributor for the SKOR Career blog. He is the author of two books, The Malaysian Job Seeker's Dilemma and Buat Duit Tanpa Kerja Makan Gaji (How to Make Money Without a Job), available in major book stores nationwide. You can reach him at zulkiflimusa[at]gmail.com.