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Goldman Sachs CEO Admits Consumer Efforts Led to Disappointing Quarter

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon admitted that the firm's consumer efforts were overly ambitious and partly led to a disappointing quarter.

David Solomon, Chief Executive Officer of Goldman Sachs
David Solomon, Chief Executive Officer of Goldman Sachs

Solomon stated on CNBC, "We probably took on more than we should have, too much, too quickly."

The investment bank posted its largest earnings miss in a decade, with quarterly profit plunging 66% from a year earlier to $1.33 billion, or $3.32 per share. This was about 39% below the consensus estimate, the largest EPS miss since October 2011, according to Refinitiv data.

Goldman Sachs build
Goldman Sachs build

Goldman Sachs struggled to expand its consumer banking business, with the firm pivoting away from its previous strategy of building a full-scale digital bank called Marcus. The partnership with Apple Card proved less profitable than expected.

Despite these challenges, Solomon highlighted that the bank's asset management and lending performance was solid relative to its peers. He also noted that there was "a lot of opportunity for us in the asset management business." However, the bank's return on average tangible common shareholders' equity for 2022 was 11%, below the 15%-17% returns of Goldman's medium-term targets.

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