Report: Goldman Sachs Seeks Alternatives for Consumer Business

Goldman Sachs is reportedly “considering strategic alternatives” for its consumer business.

Speaking at the bank’s investor day Tuesday (Feb. 28), CEO David Solomon discussed the plans for that side of Goldman’s business, which includes its card arrangements with General Motors and Apple, as well as the lending operation GreenSky.

“I’ve certainly reflected a lot over the course of the last three years,” said Solomon, whose comments were reported by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ). “There were some clear successes, but there were also some clear stumbles.”

Solomon didn’t elaborate on the bank’s plans, although his language could indicate a sale of GreenSky or the card partnerships, or a simple restructuring, the report stated.

Goldman Sachs is looking at alternatives as it tries to get GreenSky and its cards business to profitability, according to the report. If that happens, it is possible neither of the scenarios described above would be necessary.

“We’re focused on profitability, the right strategy and will be nimble and flexible,” Solomon told investors, per the report. “We’ve significantly narrowed our ambitions for consumer strategy.”

A bank spokesperson declined to comment further when reached by PYMNTS.

Goldman Sachs last year underwent a major reorganization that involved — among other things — folding its retail banking unit Marcus into its wealth management operations.

During an earnings call last month, Solomon said the company’s outlook for 2023 remains uncertain, at least on a macro level. In the meantime, Goldman Sachs was hoping to bring its Platform Solutions business toward profitability.

That part of the business lost $1 billion in 2021 and $783 million in 2020. On the call, management said Goldman would focus on Platform’s three business lines: transaction banking (where full-year revenues were up more than 50% in 2022), point-of-sale and GreenSky.

In its most recent quarter, Goldman Sachs’ supplementals showed that Platform’s credit loss provisions were $786 million, jumping 69% from the third quarter, and up 173% from a year ago.

“We’ve worked hard to bring a number of businesses together into an integrated franchise so we can really have transparency and focus on our ability to grow management fees and drive performance and serve more clients,” Solomon said at the time.

The company’s ongoing partnership with Apple, he added, should “provide meaningful dividends for the firm over time. We think GreenSky is a good business that can be accretive, but the platforms are in a different stage of development than our other businesses. They’re small in the overall scale of Goldman Sachs.”