Goldman Sachs spent the early part of this year promoting partners into its Asset and Wealth Management leadership.
The latest round of changes pushes the focus back to where the firm makes most of its money. That is deals and trading.
Two New Faces At The Top
Stephan Feldgoise is global co-head of M&A at Goldman. He has been one of the most visible voices in the deal-making world this year.
He has told investors that money is flowing back into mergers. That move has come at a pace that surprised even the most upbeat forecasts.
Josh Schiffrin holds a more behind-the-scenes role. He is chief strategy officer and head of financial risk for Global Banking and Markets.
His promotion shows the firm's effort to tie its banking and trading arms more tightly together.
The two appointments add to a leadership reshuffle that has been running through Goldman's top ranks for months.
Deal Activity Up 25% Year Over Year
Global investment banking revenue is tracking about 10% ahead of last year. Mergers and buyouts are up 25%.
Feldgoise has said the second half of 2025 turned into one of the most active deal periods on record. That came after a slow start to the year.
CEO David Solomon has been moving leaders who can keep that pipeline humming. Big balance sheets at private equity firms have given Goldman's bankers more deals to work on.
Rising boardroom confidence has helped too.
Goldman Leans Into Investment Banking
Goldman has long rotated senior leaders through different parts of the bank. The goal is to keep talent broad and the bench deep.
Promotions like these usually signal that the firm wants someone in a wider role. That means more sway across more parts of the franchise.
Both Feldgoise and Schiffrin have spent years inside the bank's investment banking and markets arms. Their elevation puts more deal-side know-how at the top table.
That comes at a moment when the firm is pulling further away from its earlier consumer banking plans.
What To Watch
Whether Goldman's deal momentum holds through the back half of 2026 will say a lot about whether these moves deliver. Deal pipelines look healthy.
Credit losses have started to show, and geopolitics has not gone away. Solomon is betting his new lineup can handle both at once.
Goldman trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker GS. The bank promoted seven partners to its management committee back in January.
That earlier round was focused on its asset and wealth arm. The latest moves swing back toward deals.
For investors, the question is how Goldman's revenue mix shifts from here. M&A and trading have driven the bulk of recent gains.
If those engines slow, the firm will need its newer asset and wealth arm to step up. Both Feldgoise and Schiffrin have ground-level views of how that handoff might play out.
Goldman has also been cutting jobs in waves over the past year. Solomon has said the firm is still hiring in deal-side roles.
That is the part of the bank both new leaders sit closest to. Their promotions point to where Solomon thinks the next leg of growth will come from.
