Goldman Misses Out on Lending Bonanza

This quarter illustrates why Goldman Sachs was so keen to get into consumer lending in the first place. But it still has to go backward on that front before it can go forward.

Goldman didn’t have a bad quarter, as much of the year-over-year decline in revenue was due to unflattering comparisons with last year’s huge performance in fixed-income trading, deal making and capital raising. Return on equity in its global markets and banking business in the first quarter was still quite strong at an annualized 16.6%, well above the firm’s overall return of 11.6%.