Goldman Sachs created a new division to increase focus on finance, according to Reuters

By Saeed Azhar, Niket Nishant and Maya Sanini

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs announced leadership changes as it created a new division to finance larger deals and make loans to corporate clients to tap into the lucrative personal loan market.

The new Capital Solutions Group will expand its services to corporate clients as part of Goldman’s global banking and markets division, the Wall Street giant said Monday.

“There is strong demand from our investment clients for personal loans and private equity,” CEO David Solomon said in a statement. The growth of private assets is “one of the most important structural trends taking place in finance,” he said.

The bank has also bet on lending to private funds by 2021, which has helped record recent fixed income financing revenues.

The fund’s financing arm lends money held in various asset classes to private equity and other funds. However, such assets can be difficult to measure and trade, and some loan products have yet to be tested, which makes lending on them risky.

“You’re seeing rapid growth in personal loans, some of which are trying to get a share of that activity by replacing traditional bank financing,” Argus Research analyst Stephen Biggar said.

They rushed to expand the growing personal loan industry into a nearly $2 trillion market. Recently in September Citigroup (NYSE: ) and Apollo Global have partnered for a $25 billion personal credit and direct lending program.

Personal credit refers to loans made by non-bank lenders, typically for risky borrowers or companies seeking debt financing for mega-purchases.

These loans can be processed quickly, and are an important source of funding for borrowers who are considered the most vulnerable.

Goldman’s new division will combine its financing group, financial sponsors group and its fixed income, currency and commodity and equity trading divisions.

He tapped Pete Lyon and Mahesh Saredy to be the co-leads of the new venture. Both will join Goldman’s management committee.

Shares of Goldman were down in afternoon trading.

The bank’s plan for the new unit was first reported by the Wall Street Journal earlier that day.

Here’s an overview of the leaders who oversee business lines in the new segment:

Divisional Executive Title

Christina Minnis Global Head of Credit and Assets

Finance

Financial and Rob Pulford and Global Joint Heads

Strategist Jonathan Barry

Investors group

(FSIG)

Investment grade Eric Jordan and Global Joint Leaders

Capital Markets Alessandro Dusi

and derivatives

David Ludwig Global Head of Equity Capital

Markets (ECM)

EMEA and Asia are served by Mike Marsh and Lee Marsh

Pacific Zheng as head of capital

Solutions in EMEA

and Zheng in Asia