Name: Insights: How Goldman Sachs Sees Business in China
Uploaded: 2020-04-23
Duration: 3 min 58 s
Description: The company recently applied for 51% stake in their Chinese business and hopes to own 100%.

 ADAM LASHINSKY: Goldman has been in China for many years, has had an interest in China. Tell everybody about that and then maybe update us on where you stand today. STEPHANIE COHEN: So Goldman Sachs has been in China for 25 years. So it's been an important part of our growth strategy and continues to be an important part of our growth strategy. We just submitted our application to get to 51%, and our goal is to ultimately get to 100%. Like all of the places that we run businesses around the world. And as we look at what's going on in China, we're actually quite encouraged by the reforms particularly around things like capital markets and asset management. So we're growing our traditional businesses in China, whether that's our capital markets businesses, our advisory businesses, asset management, and investing. And we believe that that China's an important growth area both domestically and in this market, but also for our global clients as we serve them where they believe that they're going to want to grow their businesses. ADAM LASHINSKY: Take a moment and explain, when you say get to 51%, that means you have a joint venture now that is not 51%? STEPHANIE COHEN: Correct. ADAM LASHINSKY: Who is your partner and what is the process for coming over that threshold? STEPHANIE COHEN: Yeah. So we're engaged right now in a process which many people will be familiar with. You'll see it in terms of most US the large banks. And the US are focused on getting ultimately to 51% and then 100% that's really a process that we're engaged with the governments in China. And it's something that's of real focus for us and for our leadership team. ADAM LASHINSKY: We just had a panel discussing, asking the question, are the US economy and the Chinese economy decoupling. You don't think so, but so why not? STEPHANIE COHEN: As you think about-- so I'll talk to you about, I was just in Shenzhen earlier this week. I was there yesterday. And if you talk to the companies I went to an accelerator in Shenzhen, and that accelerator is focused on robotics. It's focused on the software side of robotics, but it's also focused on the hardware side of robotics. And one of the things that they said in that meeting was that, one week in Shenzhen is like one month anywhere else, because of the ability to prototype and really build new products. And then when I asked, and I spoke to the accelerator about who was at that accelerator, where do the people come from, they came from all over the world. So there was a significant portion of their companies that were from North America, there was a significant portion from Europe, and there was a bunch from China as well. And so if you would sit inside that accelerator you would think exactly the opposite. That it's not that we're decoupling and that where-- there are many ways for us to come together and figure out places where there is real areas of expertise. In China there are really real areas of expertise, in the US, and one of the ways that we can work together. Just before this session I was actually out visiting a company, and they were talking to me about how are they going to expand their business in the US. And so I think if you listen to a lot of the rhetoric, you would ask that exact question. And I understand why you asked it. But I think if you sit on the ground and you're talking to companies, I think people are continuing to talk about ways in which the two economies can continue to work together. ADAM LASHINSKY: And so in your conversations, can use screen out the political dialogue and say, well, I know this is going on here, but that doesn't mean we can't do business. STEPHANIE COHEN: I think you have to realize where some of the rhetoric and some of what's going on has an impact on your business. You can't be blind to it. But you also can't you can't just listen to that. People have asked me in my role as chief strategy officer, how much time do I spend on the macro? So how much time do I spend on what's going on in the stock market day to day, what's going on with interest rates? And the honest answer is very little, because we're focused on building up business for the long term and not for building it for sound bites or day to day movements in markets. So you can't ignore what's going on. We have a client business and our clients certainly are focused on that. But you can't let it drive your ultimate strategy and how you think about where you want to be over the next 5, 10, 20, 50 years. 

Insights: How Goldman Sachs Sees Business in China

Uncategorized

The company applied for 51% stake in their Chinese business.

How Goldman Sachs Sees Business in China

The company recently applied for 51% stake in their Chinese business and hopes to own 100%. 