Goldman bullish on broader market opening

US investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc remains committed to China and would pursue growth opportunities in line with the nation's ongoing plans to broaden market access and accelerate financial sector's opening up, a top executive said.

"The nation's top leadership has shown confidence in the opening-up process and we would like it to happen faster," said David Solomon, president and chief operating officer of Goldman Sachs.

"We will continue to focus on growing business in China, as the country represents one of the most important opportunities for Goldman Sachs globally," said Solomon. "We are very excited about our partnership with China Investment Corp on the Cooperation Fund."

The fund was announced last November as the China-US Industrial Cooperation Partnership LP, he said.

It is targeting $5 billion in commitments with a broad mandate to invest in US companies in the manufacturing, industrial, consumer and healthcare industries, among others, that have or can develop a material business connection to China.

Developing the investment banking business continues to be one of Goldman's top priorities and long-term strategies in China, especially for IPO activities, as well as mergers and acquisitions, said the senior executive, who joined Goldman Sachs as a partner in 1999 and was co-head of the investment banking division from 2006 to 2016.

Solomon joined a roundtable meeting chaired by Chinese President Xi Jinping with other global business leaders and discussed openness and win-win cooperation in Beijing on Thursday.

At the meeting, Xi said that China will continue to ease restrictions on market access, create a more attractive environment for investment, take more measures to protect intellectual property, and establish an easier and more orderly environment for domestic and foreign investors.

Solomon said he has been aware of the uncertainties in global capital markets brought by the Sino-US trade disputes. "It is in both sides' interest and for the market that China and the United States find a constructive solution, as the two countries' relationship is the world's most important economic bilateral relationship," he said.

He warned that the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy normalization and interest rate hikes may trigger volatilities in global capital markets, although investors expect the process to be slow and orderly.

"In history, changes in monetary policy could bring some volatilities," said Solomon. "The risks don't go away, but move to different places."

He said, though it has been a decade since the global financial crisis, financial risks continue to spring up from fast-growing sovereign debt, real estate markets and the global banking system.