Hsin Yue Yong, Goldman Sachs’ head of investment banking for South East Asia, has left the US investment bank to pursue other opportunities, according to an internal memo seen by FinanceAsia.
Yong has been with Goldman 18 years, largely in Singapore. She will stay with the firm until the end of February, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The person added Yong is not headed to a rival firm and will likely take a break from investment banking.
Given Goldman already has several heavyweight bankers based in Singapore the firm is unlikely to hire a direct replacement. Tim Leissner, who was named chairman of Southeast Asia last year and relocated to Singapore last year, will cover Yong’s duties in collaboration with Singapore-based partners Michael Smith and Dan Swift, as well as the other business unit leaders throughout the region.
Last year was a marginally disappointing year for Southeast Asian bankers as ECM and M&A volumes sagged versus a bumper 2013. Goldman slipped to eleventh place in 2014 among its peer group across Southeast Asia in terms of investment banking revenues, down from ninth place in 2013, according to data provider Dealogic.
However, it advised clients on some landmark deals such as OCBC's takeover of Wing Hang. It also advised Aabar on how to maximise its return on its investment in RHB while the Malaysian bank was in merger talks with peer CIMB.
Goldman has also started 2015 with a few Southeast Asian deals in hand, such as a $222 million accelerated book build in the shares of Philippine conglomerate GT Capital for which is was sole lead.
Yong was co-head of investment banking with Steven Barg until last year when he relocated to New York.
Before that she was head of corporate finance for South East Asia overseeing the execution of transactions in the region and served on Goldman’s Asian Standards Committee.
Prior to her current role, Yong served as head of Goldman's Strategic Relationship Management group in Asia ex-Japan, which is responsible for developing the firm’s relationships with families and family businesses across divisions.
Yong joined Goldman Sachs in 1996 as an analyst in its investment banking department in Singapore and was named managing director in 2007, according to the memo. Yong earned an MA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Worcester College, Oxford, in 1994 and an MBA from INSEAD in 1999.
