One among Goldman Sachs’ greatest rainmakers at its fairness buying and selling enterprise is leaving the Wall Road financial institution after greater than 20 years.

Joe Montesano, 46, Goldman’s head of fairness buying and selling for the Americas, is retiring from the financial institution, the agency informed workers on Monday in a memo, which was seen by the Monetary Occasions. 

Montesano is leaving after three years of giant earnings on the fairness buying and selling enterprise, which benefited from huge inventory market volatility in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic. Goldman’s revenues from fairness buying and selling totalled $11bn in 2022, up virtually 50 per cent from 2019. 

Income have been such that Montesano was paid greater than the $35mn handed to chief government David Solomon in 2021, based on one particular person conversant in the matter. Montesano doesn’t but have one other job lined up, the particular person added.

Goldman confirmed the contents of the memo, which was first reported by Bloomberg, however declined to remark additional.

Montesano joined Goldman in 1999 when he was working for Hull Group, an fairness derivatives market maker that the financial institution acquired. He was elevated to associate in 2014.

Goldman’s famed alumni community is a bedrock of its success as a result of workers who depart the financial institution usually change into purchasers. However there have been quite a lot of notable departures of senior bankers throughout Solomon’s tenure.

These embrace chief monetary officer Stephen Scherr, co-head of funding banking Gregg Lemkau, and co-head of asset administration Eric Lane. 

Nonetheless, at Goldman’s investor day final week, Solomon mentioned the financial institution’s inner numbers confirmed departures general have been actually on the lowest ranges in years. 

“I learn over and over about companions leaving the agency. In 2022, there have been much less associate transitions at Goldman Sachs than any 12 months at Goldman Sachs going again to 2014,” Solomon mentioned in response to a query from an analyst about associate turnover.

“In the mean time, year-to-date, our turnover is at a five-year low, not only for companions, in the entire agency.” 

The three co-heads of Goldman’s world banking and markets division, Ashok Varadhan, Dan Dees and Jim Esposito, wrote within the memo that Montesano had “performed an essential position in strengthening our franchise”. 

“He offered management experience throughout shopper interplay, inner co-ordination and buying and selling technique, and has been instrumental in serving to our purchasers mitigate difficult environments and excessive market volatility,” the trio wrote.