Goldman Sachs Group Inc Q3 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - Bofa Merrill Lynch Asset Holdings Inc - Analyst : Good morning. I guess if you wanted to go back to -- there's been obviously a lot of headlines and some right, some misplaced around risks on the private credit side. I think, David, you have -- Goldman has an interesting perspective, given how long you've been in this space and you've seen the evolution of the space. Address it in two ways, if you could, please. One, when you think about the leverage that banks and Goldman provides to some of these players, how should shareholders think about the risk that at the back end, you could suffer losses because of the lending to NFI? And secondly, does any of this cause you to kind of recalibrate how you're thinking about growing in the halls of the private credit business? Thank you.

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - Bofa Merrill Lynch Asset Holdings Inc - Analyst : That's helpful. And I guess just one more. When we think about regulatory changes, we had the treasury secretary talked about this in a speech last week, just give us a mark-to-market around your expectations, anything about the GE subcharge and (inaudible). How are you thinking about the timeline and capital planning around all of that? And I think the bigger question that's come up with investors is is the competitive positioning of Goldman getting better where you're not being buried with incrementally new regulations. And so when we think about Goldman competing with the nonbanks across varied businesses, is that also just at the margin getting better? If you can comment on that. Thank you.

Question: Erika Najarian - UBS AG - Analyst : Hi. Thank you. Given the comments about the regulatory landscape and focusing on growth and the opportunity to play offense. And clearly, you announced the collaboration with T. Rowe and Industry Ventures. I'm just wondering, David, as you think about Goldman Sachs in the future, One Goldman Sachs 3.0, what are those opportunities for growth that you think maybe are missing or not scaled in the business right now that will really sort of maybe stabilize or enhance that sort of 15% ROE as we look forward even without such a robust capital markets backdrop?

Question: Erika Najarian - UBS AG - Analyst : Thank you, David.

Question: Christian Bolu - Bernstein Autonomous LLP - Analyst : Good morning, David and Denis. Just firstly, on the Equities business. I appreciate that we can't read too much into one quarter. But curious what drove -- what you think drove the underperformance versus peers. Also would love to get some more color around, I guess, the decline in equity intermediation revenues. I believe you called out cash equities as a driver.

Question: Christian Bolu - Bernstein Autonomous LLP - Analyst : Okay. Thank you. And then this one is a bit of wonky question, so please bear with me. But just given all the jitters around things like First Brands and Tricolor, which apparently had, I guess, some fraud issues around collateral being pledged multiple times. Can you talk about or at least remind us how you manage risk in your financing businesses, especially around collateral integrity?

Question: Betsy Graseck - Morgan Stanley - Analyst : Good morning, folks. Can you hear me? Okay. Great. Thank you. David, you mentioned earlier about how prudent, careful, strategy execution as we were discussing the -- as you were discussing the partnerships and acquisition that you announced the other day. It would be interesting to understand what you think the opportunity set is for you in the space, in wealth and asset management from an acquisition perspective in the sense of is should we expect these kind of bite size over time, building up over time? Or are there opportunities that you see that could potentially get you to a larger scale faster?

Question: Betsy Graseck - Morgan Stanley - Analyst : Okay. Thank you. And then just separately, is there -- should we still be anticipating and exit from the Apple Card at some point in the near or medium term? Or is that no longer expected? Thank you.

Question: Mike Mayo - Wells Fargo Securities LLC - Analyst : Hi. What role is -- on the negative side, Goldman Sachs 3.0, I would think Platform Solutions might not make the cut. And I guess that relates to the Apple Card, and I guess I'm just wondering why you're the leading deal maker in the world, and that's still hanging around. I guess that's a follow-up. But on the positive side, you said the quarter end backlog is at the highest level in three years. Can you give us a sense of that mix? And also, if I heard you correctly, you said -- I might have heard this incorrectly, 40% of your FICC and equity trading is financing. If I got that wrong, if you could correct me and what's comprising that? Thank you.

Question: Mike Mayo - Wells Fargo Securities LLC - Analyst : And as far as that 40%, that's up, I think, from 33% quarter-over-quarter. And I'm just wondering what were the sources of that incremental growth?

Question: Devin Ryan - Citizens JMP Securities LLC - Analyst : Great. Good morning, David, Dennis. First question just on the financial advisory strength, obviously, really nice on an absolute basis and then relative to peers as well. And all the data we look at would suggest we're still pretty early in the recovery for that business. sponsors are just starting to reengage. And then I know you talked -- touched on the market share gains as well. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. OCTOBER 14, 2025 / 1:30PM, GS.N - Q3 2025 Goldman Sachs Group Inc Earnings Call Just be good to get some additional context on where you feel like we are in the broader recovery for the advisory business for the industry right now? How far away we are from the baseline? And then just from a market share perspective, is that senior banker headcount up a lot? Or is that just One Goldman Sachs resonating?

Question: Devin Ryan - Citizens JMP Securities LLC - Analyst : That's great. Okay. Just want to come back to the prime services and financing as well. I know it's been steady growth, as Dennis mentioned, but I suspect there's also a bit of a cyclical component there just tied to higher risk appetites and then there's the obviously, the secular and kind of Goldman Sachs market share story. So just with where we are with record valuations across a number of assets, is there a way to frame how you're thinking about the cyclical demand in that business right now significantly elevated? And then just from a secular growth story, just talk about how much more room there is over the next handful of years here. Thanks.

Question: Gerard Cassidy - RBC Capital Markets Inc - Analyst : Good morning, Dennis. Good morning, David. On the comments you made, David, on Goldman Sachs 3.0, which obviously is very positive. As outsiders, how do you direct or where should you direct us how we measure that success over the next three to five years as you roll this out throughout the organization. Is it going to be primarily through the ROTCE number? Or is there something else we should focus on?

Question: Gerard Cassidy - RBC Capital Markets Inc - Analyst : Very good. Thank you. And then as a follow-up, obviously, you guys are very well capitalized with the CET1 ratio just over 14%. The requirement 10.9%, you've been very active in returning that excess capital through share repurchases. As we go forward, assuming the regulatory environment continues to move in the direction that you've referenced, David, where should we see the buffer? I mean, if you come in with a final number maybe in a year something closer to 10.5% the regulatory requirement, what kind of buffer do you guys like to operate above your regulatory requirement when it comes to CET1?