(Bloomberg) — Goldman Sachs Group Inc. commodities trading co-head Qin Xiao is leaving the firm just months after taking on a leadership role for the business.
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Xiao, who’s known to colleagues as QX, plans to leave at the end of this year, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg News. He was one of the few Goldman partners in that unit who stayed on after the business cratered in 2017 and was rebuilt in the following years.
Goldman’s commodities unit has been one of the most prominent on Wall Street since the early 1980s, but has seen a slew of departures since Ed Emerson, who led the business, said late last year that he was stepping down. Xiao took over as co-head after Emerson left.
Xiao had previously run commodities trading in Asia and in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The desk’s recent spurt of success took off with the tumult in markets in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic.
Xiao, who’s based in Singapore, and Anthony Dewell had correctly positioned their desks for the collapse in oil prices, which went negative, helping land big gains for the firm. Dewell had previously jumped ship to Izzy Englander’s Millennium Management.
Hedge funds have been hiring away banks’ commodities traders, particularly those with expertise across multiple markets, to capitalize on investors’ increasing interest in the sector and its potential for returns. Among recent departures from Goldman were Mike Severo, a commodity index options and exotics trader, and Thomas Abe, who joined Balyasny Asset Management.
The Goldman commodities business notched three of its best years starting in 2020, raking in billions of dollars in gains that helped the bank lavish big paydays on its top risk takers. Emerson, the former head of the business, had become one of the highest paid executives in banking, earning more than $100 million in one three-year stretch.
–With assistance from Archie Hunter.
(Updates with background on commodities business starting in second paragraph.)
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