The Goldman Sachs Group NYSE: GS reported third-quarter net revenue of $18.7 billion, its second-highest quarterly total, as record advisory revenue, strong equities financing and continued asset and wealth management growth supported results.
Goldman Sachs posted earnings per share of $17.01, return on equity of 18.7% and return on tangible common equity of 20.5% for the quarter. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David Solomon said the results included an approximately $450 million accelerated charitable contribution. Excluding that contribution, he said quarterly earnings per share would have been about $18, while ROE and ROTE would have been approximately 20% and 21.5%, respectively.
For the year to date, Solomon said record revenue produced a 20.7% ROE and 22.4% ROTE. He described the operating backdrop as complicated by renewed geopolitical tensions, disrupted energy flows, higher oil prices and rising bond yields, but said the underlying U.S. economy remained solid.
Investment Banking and Markets Results
Global banking and markets generated $13.5 billion in third-quarter revenue, also the second-highest quarterly level in the firm’s history. Advisory revenue rose 18% from a year earlier to a quarterly record of $1.7 billion, driven by higher transaction volumes.
Goldman maintained its top position in announced and completed mergers and acquisitions year to date, advising on $1.5 trillion of announced transactions, according to Solomon. He said the firm’s lead over its closest competitor was approximately $430 billion. Equity underwriting revenue increased 43% year over year to $666 million on IPO and secondary-offering activity, while debt underwriting revenue rose 15% to $904 million, led primarily by investment-grade issuance.
Chief Financial Officer Denis Coleman said the investment-banking backlog remained “very robust,” despite substantial revenue realization during the quarter. Solomon said the current environment remained favorable for capital-markets activity, though less exceptional than it had been earlier in the year.
“I still think for capital markets activity, it is a top quartile environment,” Solomon said, adding that strategic M&A discussions remain substantial. He said some IPOs that did not proceed during September may have reflected issuers’ decisions to wait when expected valuations fell 10% to 15% below prior expectations.
FICC revenue was essentially unchanged from a year earlier. Intermediation revenue fell 7%, as lower mortgage, rates and credit results were largely offset by stronger currencies and commodities performance. FICC financing revenue climbed 14% to its second-highest level, supported by mortgages and structured financing.
Equities revenue rose 72% year over year to $6.4 billion, Goldman’s second-best quarter in the business. Equities intermediation revenue increased 52%, led by derivatives, while equities financing revenue surged 96% to a record, driven by elevated average prime balances and activity in Asia.
Combined FICC and equities financing revenue reached a record $12.7 billion year to date, representing more than 40% of revenue in those businesses. Coleman said financing demand continued to exceed available industry capacity, supporting pricing and allowing the firm to remain selective in deploying resources.
Asset and Wealth Management Growth
Asset and wealth management revenue increased 14% year over year to $5.1 billion. Management and other fees rose 22% to a record $3.6 billion, reflecting higher average assets under supervision. Incentive fees totaled $587 million, and Coleman said the firm expects incentive fees to remain elevated in the fourth quarter based on its current outlook.
Total assets under supervision ended the quarter at a record $4.1 trillion, aided by $97 billion of long-term fee-based net inflows. The quarter marked Goldman’s 35th consecutive period of long-term fee-based inflows.
Wealth-management client assets reached $2.1 trillion, with $47 billion of long-term net inflows. Solomon said wealth-management inflows in 2026 were annualizing at 12%, ahead of the firm’s 5% target.
Alternative assets under supervision rose 26% from a year earlier to $491 billion. Third-party alternatives fundraising was $37 billion for the quarter and $122 billion year to date, prompting Goldman to raise its full-year fundraising expectation to roughly $150 billion.
Solomon said the fundraising performance reflected a multiyear effort to expand the platform rather than opportunistic activity. He pointed to the firm’s experience in private credit, where he said institutional investors have recently viewed normalized spreads as an attractive entry point for allocating capital to experienced managers.
Capital, Expenses and Strategic Investments
Goldman’s total loan portfolio increased 6% from the previous quarter to $276 billion. The provision for credit losses was $368 million, reflecting portfolio growth and impairments on several individual positions. Coleman said the impairments were idiosyncratic and non-correlated, and that the firm did not view them as signaling a broader deterioration in credit conditions.
Total operating expenses were $11.3 billion, including $6.2 billion in non-compensation expenses, up 30% year over year largely because of higher transaction-based costs. Year-to-date operating expenses were $33.4 billion, resulting in an efficiency ratio of 59.4%, an improvement of 270 basis points from the prior year. The year-to-date compensation ratio, net of provisions, was 30%.
Goldman ended the quarter with a standardized common equity Tier 1 ratio of 12.4%, 100 basis points above its current requirement. During the quarter, the firm repurchased $3 billion of common stock and paid $1.5 billion in dividends.
The firm also announced agreements in August to acquire NEOS, a derivative-income ETF manager with about $35 billion in assets under management at quarter-end, and LCN Capital Partners, a triple-net-lease investment manager. Solomon said the acquisitions are intended to expand product offerings, distribution and investment capabilities in asset and wealth management.
AI Financing and Market Structure
Solomon said Goldman sees significant financing opportunities tied to AI infrastructure development, while stressing the need for underwriting discipline. He cited estimates that the U.S. data-center buildout could require more than $10 trillion of investment through 2032.
“There’s a lot of demand for compute at the moment,” Solomon said. “The supply has not come into balance. More is going to get built. More financing is going to be necessary.”
However, he said the ultimate scale and timing of AI capital needs remain uncertain and could be affected by rates, geopolitical developments and project economics. Goldman expects to participate through advisory, underwriting, distribution, balance-sheet financing and its asset-management platform.
Solomon also said the firm is investing in digital-asset and tokenization capabilities, including tokenized bonds and money market funds. He described current activity as small but said the technology could eventually improve efficiency, automation, liquidity and market access across asset classes.
Addressing reports about management succession, Solomon said there is “no succession transition or timeline underway” at Goldman Sachs, and that the board and management remain focused on growing the firm and serving clients.
About The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS)
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc is a global financial services company headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1869, the firm provides services to corporations, financial institutions, governments, individuals and other clients through its investment banking, markets, asset management and wealth management businesses.
Goldman Sachs advises clients on mergers and acquisitions, financing and other strategic transactions, and facilitates trading in equities, fixed income, currencies and commodities.
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