Goldman promotes Ashok Varadhan to co-head securities

Goldman Sachs Group has named Indian-American executive Ashok Varadhan as a third co-head for its securities division, the largest and most profitable of the global investment bank's four units.

Varadhan would co-head the division, which comprises the fixed income, currency and commodities business as well as the equities business, according to an internal memo sent to employees Monday.

Varadhan joins existing co-heads Isabelle Ealet and Pablo Salame in his new role, according to the memo, cited by The Wall Street Journal.

Varadhan, 41, will be based in New York City. He was most recently head of macro trading in the securities division. A Duke University graduate, Varadhan joined Goldman in 1998 in swaps trading and has served in other FICC roles since then.

He became a managing director in 2000 and a partner in 2002, according to the memo.

"As a long-tenured leader in the Securities Division, Ashok has demonstrated dedication to our clients and a deep understanding of our business," Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein and President Gary Cohn wrote in the memo.

As head of macro trading, Varadhan had overseen interest-rate products, currencies and emerging markets.

Varadhan is the son of eminent Indian-American academician Srinivasa Varadhan, a Chennai native who is professor of mathematics in the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University.

The senior Varadhan was awarded the Abel Prize, considered equivalent to the Nobel Prize and awarded for outstanding scientific work in the field of mathematics.