The US investment bank’s ‘strong’ performance in the fourth quarter helped to deliver ‘solid’ results for the year, according to David M. Solomon (pictured), chairman and chief executive officer.

Goldman Sachs has reported net revenues of US$9.9 billion for the fourth quarter of 2019, up 23% from the prior year quarter, and 20% higher than the third quarter of 2019. The increase compared to 4Q 2018 primarily reflected ‘significantly higher’ net revenues in the asset management and global markets division’s.

Net revenues for full year 2019 were US$36.5 billion, essentially unchanged compared with 2018.

In 4Q, net revenues in investment banking were US$2.1 billion, six percent lower than the fourth quarter of 2018 and 12% higher than the third quarter of 2019. The decrease compared with the fourth quarter of 2018 reflected significantly lower net revenues in financial advisory and lower net revenues in corporate lending, partially offset by significantly higher net revenues in underwriting.

The increase in underwriting net revenues was due to significantly higher net revenues in debt underwriting, driven by asset-backed activity, and higher net revenues in equity underwriting, reflecting an increase in industry-wide transactions.

The average underwriting discount for its structured products sold in the US in the fourth quarter was 2.2% of the nominal amount, according to SRP data.

The bank had an 11% share of the US structured products market in the fourth quarter, making it the third biggest issuer in the period, behind JP Morgan Chase (14%) and Barclays (13%) only.

Goldman sold 680 structured products worth US$2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2019, down in issuance but up in sales from the 712 structures with combined sales of US$1.3 billion in 4Q 2018. Sales volumes were slightly down compared to the previous quarter when US$2.2 billion was collected from 756 products.

The bank’s products were sold via 10 different distribution channels, including Incapital (US$487m from 273 products), Morgan Stanley Wealth Management (US$394m from 42 products), and UBS (US$317.3m from 40 products). The latter was also responsible for distributing the best-selling structure in the quarter: Trigger Callable Contingent Yield Notes 36259E655, a 3.75-year registered note linked to a basket composed of Eurostoxx 50, Russell 2000 and S&P 500, which sold US$53.3m.

Ninety percent of Goldman’s issuance during the quarter was linked to equities, including 350 products tied to a single index and 225 products tied to an index basket. There were also products linked to a hybrid basket, the interest rate, and commodities.

Sales full year 2019 in the US stood at US$6.5 billion from 2,675 products (FY 2018: US$6.7 billion from 2,733 products).

Outside the US, the bank acted as the manufacturer for products sold in 13 different jurisdictions, including, among others, Belgium, Brazil, France, Ireland, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan and the UK.

Click the link to read the Goldman Sachs full year and fourth quarter 2019 results and the presentation.