• Last year, Goldman named Kunal Shah co-CEO of its international business and global co-head of FICC.
• Shah made partner at just 31, having climbed to the top after about a decade with the bank.
• He spoke with Business Insider about the EMEA tech scene, global volatility, and the bank's future.

Not many people can say they've made partner at Goldman Sachs. Even fewer can say they did it at the age of 31.

Kunal Shah can say both.

Shah joined Goldman Sachs as an analyst in the firm's trading business in 2004 and rose to partner in about a decade. Last January, he was promoted to two new roles: co-CEO of Goldman Sachs International and global co-head of fixed income, currencies, and commodities. Based in London, he also holds a seat on the bank's overarching management committee.

As part of a new series of Q&As we're kicking off with some of Goldman Sachs' top executives, Business Insider had the chance to sit down with Shah to discuss Europe's tech sector, Goldman's presence in the Middle East, and what the financial industry's embrace of AI means for newcomers' careers.

Here's our conversation with Shah, edited for length and clarity.

What do you recall from those early years, and how did senior bankers mentor you during your ascent?

After graduation, what struck me when I hit the trading floor as a full-time analyst was that I had access to the then-partners, even when I was just a new kid on the trading desk. When I became a partner, I found the interconnectedness — your ability to make a call to any partner anywhere in the world, offering a clear baseline of trust — amazing.

I would call out Ashok Varadhan, who I have worked with since day one, and who is now the firm's co-head of global banking and markets. I first met him when he agreed to meet for a coffee when I was a fresh analyst and visited New York for my training in 2004. He was already a partner, but he took the time to connect, and we stayed in touch when I hit the trading floor in London. He would listen to my views and he welcomed debates around risks or initiatives.

From him, I learned to have a laser focus on risk management, but also a willingness to take and scale risk where there is opportunity in the business.

As new analysts hit the desk this summer, how do you see AI affecting the long-term outlook for bankers and traders?

Junior talent are inherently tech-savvy, and they don't have the legacy of why we do things in a certain way. They can see how to disrupt us.

Even when I was an intern, people were telling me, "Don't rotate into fixed income trading desks — it's all going to get automated." A lot of the administrative tasks that junior people used to do were no longer needed because we were able to leverage technology and tools to achieve scale.

For me, AI is just another natural extension of that. More of the mundane work — whether that's making presentations, building Excel models, or booking trades — doesn't need to be done in the same way.

The bottom-up experimentation I see across the whole organization is powered by the tools we've released. Once you equip your people with these tools, they can experiment and find things that could be game-changing.

If young people come in with the mindset of actually helping us to disrupt things, and to embrace the change, I think the experience they can have in this industry can be phenomenal.

You're at the helm of Goldman Sachs International as co-CEO of GSI and global co-head of FICC. What's the most interesting facet of being in those seats right now?

The common thread across both roles — and the thing I love most about them — is that no day is the same.

Working in FICC means you're right at the intersection of politics, macroeconomics, geopolitics, and how each of these interact at the micro level with different sectors and markets. Part of the job is balancing long-term strategic views with the constant flow of markets. Even now, if you look at this moment in time, there is uncertainty around commodity markets and you need to watch how that feeds into the monetary policy decisions of central banks, asset allocation shifts and more. There is almost consistency in the uncertainty, and that is inherently exciting to work amidst.

As co-CEO of Goldman Sachs International, I have been exposed to a much broader range of clients across the firm. Across the region, we've got around 29 offices — which means we have people, we have clients, and we have interactions with key policymakers, regulators, finance officials, and central bankers.

The US appears to be leading in AI investment and infrastructure. What's your outlook for the EMEA tech landscape, and how is that changing?

Over the last decade, the number of unicorns in the broader European context has tripled. The tech space in EMEA is much broader than people realize.

In terms of capital markets being US-centric — there is definitely an element there when you're talking about the hyperscalers, and this huge amount of AI-related debt issuance we're seeing. Many of those large tech platforms are quite US-centric. But I wouldn't say exclusively.

You can remember companies like DeepMind and others very much coming out of the tech ecosystem in Europe.

We are witnessing what is arguably the largest investment cycle in history, with our research teams estimating that hyperscaler capex could reach between $700 billion and $725 billion in 2026 alone.

While the US and China lead the LLM race, we also see a distinct competitive edge for the EMEA region at the AI application layer. European entrepreneurs are taking core models and building specialized, high-value software to solve industry-specific problems in robotics, autonomous drones, and smart factories.

As the conflict in Iran continues, how do you view the potential impacts of the Middle East conflict for Goldman's international businesses?

We have five offices in the region — in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha, Riyadh, and Kuwait — and over 100 people. In the past 12 months alone, we announced our office opening in Kuwait, a new office in Riyadh, and the onshoring of our private wealth business there. We are active across advisory, financing, markets and as an asset manager and investor.

The countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council have managed the situation very well so far, both from maintaining a safe environment but also ensuring that the countries continue to operate with a good sense of as much normality as possible given the situation.

Once we move beyond the current conflict, the renewed focus on infrastructure and resilience will bring other opportunities for us to help our clients, and our presence there enables our ability to do so.

• There are a few mistakes I wish I'd avoided before and during my family's trip to South Korea.
• I wish I had planned more hikes, purchased a transit card sooner, and spent more time outside Seoul.
• Looking back, I wish I'd taken more time to learn about local history and music.

When I was planning my family's summer trip to Japan, a stop in South Korea wasn't originally part of the itinerary.

However, when I found a great deal on premium-economy tickets to Tokyo with a layover in Seoul, I decided to extend our stay in South Korea's capital and spend five days exploring the city.

My children and I ended up loving South Korea, but our trip probably would have been better if I'd avoided these five mistakes.

We should've sought out more hikes and planned experiences within nature.

Seoul is an energetic, bustling city. Before the trip, I had assumed we'd spend most of our time visiting urban attractions and learning more about the flashy local Gangnam Style.

However, the mountains and natural beauty in Seoul made a bigger impression on me than anything else in the city.

By sheer luck, I'd booked a stay at a hotel right by Namsan Park, a massive forest in the mountains inside city limits. My family took two long, unplanned hikes in the park — and they turned out to be some of the best parts of the trip.

Although I'm glad we stumbled upon this urban oasis, I wish I had been more intentional about planning to explore more natural attractions in and around Seoul during our visit.

Our itinerary didn't include enough trips and experiences outside Seoul.

During the trip, my family explored Seoul's ancient palaces and steeped ourselves in K-pop culture. We walked laps around Seoul's trendy Myeong-dong neighborhood, eating Korean street food, hunting for K-beauty finds.

We left Seoul twice for day trips to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea and to visit K-drama filming locations.

Since South Korea wasn't our final destination, I thought five days would be enough to get a feel for the country.

It certainly felt like enough time to explore Seoul, and I loved my time in South Korea — but I left wishing I had more time to explore the country beyond its capital.

For example, I would've loved to visit the volcanic Jeju Island or the beaches and mountains in Busan.

Learning a bit more about local history and culture would've enriched the trip.

When I travel, I usually make it a point to learn more about the place I'm visiting since doing so always enriches my experiences.

However, once I landed in Seoul, I realized how little I really knew.

For example, I wish I'd taken more time to learn about the Japanese occupation of Korea and the Korean War. There are echoes of these events everywhere, and families in Korea remain divided between the North and South.

I also wish I'd become more familiar with popular local bands and listened to more K-pop before I landed. This music is a vital part of Korean culture, and ads with K-pop bands and signs wishing a K-pop star a happy birthday were all over Seoul during my visit.

It would've been cool to understand and appreciate these references … and maybe even sing along to some local hits.

It took us a little too long to embrace local convenience-store culture.

Convenience stores are ubiquitous in Seoul, and the ones we encountered were nothing like the ones back home, which often feel like a last resort for a grab-and-go bite.

Here, convenience stores are staples for a reason. I was impressed by the wide variety of affordable meals, snacks, and beverages on offer in these stores — and by the fact that many of them had seating areas.

By the end of my time in South Korea, I had grown accustomed to eating quick, low-cost, delicious (and sometimes even healthy) meals at a table inside a convenience store with my kids.

Doing something like this is nearly unheard of in the United States, and I wish I had embraced this quintessentially Korean habit much earlier. That way, we could've saved some money on food and efficiently tried even more local favorites.

Getting a transit card at the airport would've saved me money and headaches.

For most visitors, Seoul's extensive public-transportation system is the best way to get around the city. However, using it came with some unexpected challenges.

On my first full day in Seoul, I wanted to take the bus. However, I found that I had no way to pay since physical transit cards aren't sold at bus stops and buses don't accept cash or credit cards.

I got where I wanted to go by taking an Uber instead. Paying a few extra bucks wasn't the end of the world, but I love taking public transportation when I travel, and wish I'd been better prepared.

Even though I was exhausted when I landed in Seoul, I should've taken a few minutes to buy a transit card before leaving the airport to make using public transportation easier.

After I picked one up partway through my trip, getting around the city was easy and affordable. (The card I purchased is "Squid Game"-themed, which also makes it a cool souvenir.)