Goldman takes a charge

By Bo Brustkern

It wasn't very long ago when I touted the brilliance of Goldman Sachs in its push to leverage its indomitable brand in the consumer lending arena.?

But 2023 seems to mark a quick end to that era. First there was news of Marcus, the consumer bank startup (of sorts) built by some of the brightest minds on Wall Street. Now there is Greensky, a maligned home-improvement lender, which caused a $504 million goodwill impairment and is reportedly for sale.?

Add this to the?$3 billion in reported losses?attributed to Goldman's various consumer finance units, and you have a?remarkable contrast?to the reported results from mainstream consumer bank brands like Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo.

But before I go touting the brilliance of these banking behemoths, let me be reminded that all these quarterly reporting figures are buried in GAAP hocus-pocus. If company analysts and economists are being a little rosy-glassed about provisions for loan losses, today's heralded results could be tomorrow's red herrings.?

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