Mark Schwartz, who has been at the firm for 27 years and is currently based in Beijing, will become a senior director at . 

Ken Hitchner stays on as the president of Asia-Pacific ex-Japan and Masa Mochida continues to serve as president of Goldman Sachs Japan.

The memo, signed by Goldmans’ chief executive Lloyd Blankfein and president Gary Cohn, said: “Throughout most of his tenure at Goldman Sachs, Mark played an instrumental role in shaping our strategy in Asia-Pacific.”

Schwartz was the first regional chairman Goldman Sachs based in China’s capital, a move seen as symbolising the importance of Asia to the business. He took on the role in 2012. As he retires from the role, Schwartz will return to New York.

"Mark first joined Goldman Sachs in 1979 as an associate in the public utility finance group in the investment banking division. He moved to fixed income in 1985, when he founded the high yield department. Mark then headed the global debt capital markets department from 1991 to 1997 when he assumed his leadership roles in Asia-Pacific. Mark left the firm in 2001. He became a senior advisor to Soros Fund Management in 2002, where he later served as president and chief executive officer from 2003 to 2004. He then became chairman of MissionPoint Capital Partners, an investment firm he co-founded with a focus on the low-carbon economy, as well as a member of the board of directors of both MasterCard Inc. and SoftBank Corp," the memo said.

He returned to Goldman Sachs in 2012 and re-joined the management committee. 

Goldman Sachs has faced some difficulties in Asia recently. It is being probed for its role in underwriting $6 billion of bond sales for scandal-hit 1Malaysia Development Bhd, the state-run fund being investigated for alleged corruption and money laundering. Already, the Monetary Authority of Singapore has banned two banks, BSI and Falcon Private Bank, for shortcomings relating to transactions involving 1MDB, and authorities in Luxembourg and Switzerland are also involved. At the time of writing, Goldman Sachs has not been accused by authorities of wrongdoing in the 1MDB case. The Malaysian fund, meanwhile, has repeatedly denied charges of corruption against it.