Goldman Sachs Platform Solutions Business Lost $3 Billion in Nearly Three Years

NEW YORK—Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lost nearly $3.03 billion over three years. Platform Solutions business that houses financial technology, transaction banking and credit card businesses.

This is the first time that Goldman has given a detailed look into the financials for the consumer and fintech arms that were intended to diversify the Wall Street firm’s operations away from its traditional mainstays of trading and dealmaking.

For the first nine months in 2022, the company reported a pretax loss of $1.2 billion on its platform solutions business.

In 2021, the unit lost $1.05 Billion and in 2020 it lost $783 M.

The disclosure did not include separate numbers for Marcus’ direct-to-consumer division, which was moved to its asset and wealth management unit.

The logo for Goldman Sachs, New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), in New York on November 17, 2021. (Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

Marcus also lost money and did not open a checking account. According to Reuters, Swati Bhatia was the leader of the group and resigned earlier in this month.

Goldman will also cease issuing unsecured consumer loans. A source close to the matter told Reuters last month that this was another indication it is closing down the business.

The platform solutions arm saw higher revenue in the first nine months but also had higher provision for credit losses and operating costs.

“As had been widely expected, the new segment for Platform Solutions is operating at a net loss on a quarterly basis,” Daniel Fannon, an analyst at Jefferies, said this in a note.

Goldman, in October, merged Marcus into wealth management, and created platform solutions that included GreenSky (the fintech lender Goldman purchased in a deal worth $2.2 billion).

In response to those changes, the bank reorganized itself into three major units: global banks and markets, asset management, wealth management, platform solutions.

According to analysts at Refinitiv Eikon, Goldman Sachs will report a net profit in the fourth quarter of $2.16billion on Tuesday. This would be a drop of 45 percent from the $3.94 trillion net profit for the same period last year.

By Saeed Azhar & Niket Nishant

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