Goldman swiftly appoints new tech head

Goldman Sachs has moved at internet speed to appoint a new head of tech following the departure of its former tech boss, Helge Weiner-Trapness to JPMorgan (see related article). The new head will be Howard Rowe, who like his predecessor, formerly worked in general industries based in London, before moving to Hong Kong after the handover to join the bank's large and award-winning tech team. With a legal background prior to joining Goldman in 1997, Rowe is currently a VP and is said to have masterminded the Legend/ Digital China deal of spring 2001.

"There is a lot of depth to our tech team," says Michael Carr, Goldman's head of investment banking. "And it was very apparent to me that Howard was the natural choice to lead the team."

Goldman has a massive pipeline of tech deals this year, especially from Taiwan where Vice-chairman, Hsueh Sung, manages key relationships such as TSMC, which began roadshows yesterday (Monday) for its roughly $1 billion equity offering.

Meanwhile there has been some confusion as to what has happened to the effervescent Brooks Entwistle in recent moves. After a stint co-heading the tech team with Weiner-Trapness, Entwistle moved into the COO position working for Asian President Richard Gnodde in the executive office about three months ago.

Rowe will head a 12 strong team, which is believed to be one of the largest in the region and has remained intact following the departure of Weiner-Trapness late last week.