Goldman Sachs hires tech veteran Cynthia Loh from Charles Schwab

Goldman Sachs & Co. has hired Cynthia Loh, a veteran in digital advice, to lead product management for the Personal Financial Management Group at the firm. 

Loh joins as a managing director and reports directly to Larry Restieri and Joe Duran, PFMG co-heads, and Irfan Hussain, chief information officer of Goldman's consumer and wealth management division, according to a memo reviewed by InvestmentNews.

She will be tasked with building out a team with new jobs openings, including vice president of product management and associate in product strategy, according to her LinkedIn page. 

Loh joins Goldman Sachs from Charles Schwab & Co., where she served as vice president of digital advice and innovation and oversaw the Schwab Intelligent Portfolio robo-platforms since 2017. One of her major innovations within this role was the introduction of subscription pricing to the platforms, which attracted more than $1 billion in assets, according to the firm. She also launched the Schwab Intelligent Income feature which enables investors to take a paycheck from multiple accounts in a tax-efficient fashion.

Prior to that, Loh was a general manager at Betterment.

Goldman’s latest tech-focused hire is a move that emphasizes the bank’s recent push to move beyond offering wealth management services exclusively to the ultra-wealthy. After its acquisition in July 2019, United Capital became Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management division, combining the then-RIA’s emphasis on getting personal with the Wall Street bank's 150-year legacy.

The Personal Financial Management unit is now growing via acquisitions and technology, and Joe Duran recently outlined how advisers can benefit.

“We’re spending millions of dollars a year just on technology to help advisers be competitive, adding new functionality every day,” Duran said in an interview. 

Goldman Sachs has since built out its wealth management offerings to serve a wider breadth of investors. Most recently, Goldman introduced its robo-adviser, Marcus Invest, in February. The investment offering lives under Goldman’s existing consumer-facing banking app Marcus by Goldman Sachs, joining other offerings such as savings accounts, unsecured personal loans and budgeting software. 

In her new role, Loh will work closely with the engineering team to help the firm continue to innovate and evolve its platform, according to the memo.