Goldman Sachs posts record equity trading revenue, but FICC lags behind

Published: 2026-04-14 12:57:09 ET GS

Published on 04/14/2026 at 12:57 pm EDT

Key takeaways

The recent earnings report from Goldman Sachs Group painted a mixed picture for the banking giant. While the equities trading division delivered a record-breaking performance, beating previous highs by more than 1 billion dollars, FICC activity (fixed income, currencies and commodities) lagged behind analysts’ expectations. CEO David Solomon attributed this gap to overly optimistic analyst forecasts and noted that, historically, the FICC quarter still ranked among the top ten.

Mixed performance across trading divisions

The 10 per cent year-on-year decline in FICC revenues was mainly driven by weaker performance in rates and mortgages, according to CFO Denis Coleman. By contrast, the bank saw improvements in currency and commodities trading within the FICC division. Despite this positive development, Goldman Sachs warned of a slight decline in the fee backlog compared with the previous quarter, pushing the share price down 2.4 per cent. In the meantime, the shares are up 0.24 per cent in pre-market trading (around 14:30).

Strong performance driven by revival in investments

Goldman Sachs’ performance in equities was fuelled by a strong rise in equity financing, including lending to hedge funds and other speculative investors. This success was notable given the recent departure of one of the co-heads of the division to hedge fund Millennium Management.

Investment banking advisory fees recorded an impressive 89 per cent year-on-year increase, beating expectations and pointing to a rebound in merger activity. Total fees for this division amounted to 2.84 billion dollars during the quarter. Solomon played down concerns about the lower outlook for the deal pipeline, stating that M&A activity remained substantial. In the asset management division, assets under management grew to 3.7 trillion dollars, with net revenues rising compared with the same period last year.

Dealing with challenges in private credit

Earlier in April, Goldman Sachs acknowledged that one of its private credit funds had narrowly avoided a crisis amid a broader pullback by investors. Despite this incident, Solomon expressed his continued confidence in the private credit market as an attractive investment opportunity, while recognising that ongoing discussions surround private credit funds aimed at retail investors.

In the first quarter, Goldman Sachs also promoted seven new partners to its top management committee and increased compensation for senior executives. The bank also announced the departure of its chief legal officer, Kathryn Ruemmler. (fc)

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