Goldman Sachs president says bank is ‘ahead on every metric’ in its $5 billion revenue growth plan

Goldman Sachs President David Solomon said the bank is making progress on its plan to increase revenue by $5 billion over three years.

“At this point in time, we are on track or ahead on every metric that we look at along that $5 billion plan,” Solomon said Thursday during a conference in New York. “That plan is far from our ambition. We continue to look to broaden our core businesses, expand our franchise and find ways to enhance our growth and diversity of revenue streams.”

Goldman Sachs announced the $5 billion plan in September after being stung in recent years by a decline in fixed-income trading. The firm is the most dependent on trading revenue among the big U.S. investment banks, and its push involves growing clients beyond the hedge funds that were its historic strength. Part of the effort includes a new emphasis on consumer retail through its Marcus brand.

“We’re now building a digital consumer finance platform,” Solomon said. “We think digital finance is at a very, very interesting pivot point. And we think we’re in a position where we can be part of the disruption.”

The consumer business offers savings accounts and loans, but could ultimately spread to credit cards, mortgages, car loans, life and health insurance through Marcus, according to a bank presentation.

Marcus has 1.5 million customers, made $3 billion in loans and has a total of $22 billion in deposits, said Solomon, who became sole president of the bank in March. He is considered the likely successor for CEO Lloyd Blankfein.

When asked about Goldman’s plans for trading cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, Solomon said they haven’t yet gone further than clearing futures for clients.

“We’re extremely cautious about the space, but very open from perspective about what do our clients need,” he said.

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