Goldman Sachs has been unable to appoint its preferred chief executive at its Beijing joint venture because his Chinese language skills are not sufficient to pass a mandatory financial knowledge test. Richard Ong, Goldman’s ethnically Chinese, Malaysian-born co-head of investment banking in Asia, has been working at the joint venture in Beijing for the past six months. China’s securities regulator issued new rules requiring senior executives to take the test late last year. Managers in place before then have until 2009 to pass the test or they will lose their titles.
