Goldman Sachs, Pulling Back From Consumer Lending, Posts 33% Profit Drop.

Goldman Sachs reported a 33% decline in profit for the third quarter due to losses from selling off parts of its consumer lending business and a drop in revenue in its asset and wealth management division. This marks the eighth consecutive quarter of profit decline for the bank. Goldman Sachs is narrowing its focus and pulling back from consumer lending, with the recent sale of specialty lender GreenSky and the unloading of its personal loans balances. The bank is now pinning its hopes for diversifying its revenue on its asset and wealth management business. Despite the decline in profit, Goldman Sachs beat analysts' expectations for earnings per share and revenue. Other big banks, such as JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, have been reporting strong earnings, fueled by lending to households and commercial businesses. Goldman Sachs is also facing a slowdown in deal making, although there were some signs of improvement in the third quarter. The bank took several charges that resulted in a nearly $1 billion hit to pretax profits, including write-downs on older investments in the asset and wealth management unit and costs related to the sale of GreenSky. Overall, the charges reduced the quarter's annualized return on equity to 7.1%. [Extracted from the article]