Banks, Goldman Sachs | featured news

Goldman Sachs Group received a subpoena from New York prosecutors seeking information on the investment bank's role leading into the global financial crisis, a person familiar with the matter said.

Goldman Sachs’ first-quarter income fell 72 percent after the bank paid out $1.64 billion in dividends to redeem preferred shares it issued to billionaire investor Warren Buffett during the financial crisis.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc posted a 53 percent decline in quarterly profit on Wednesday, in part reflecting lower results in fixed-income trading.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc agreed to pay $550 million to settle civil fraud charges over how it marketed a subprime mortgage product, ending months of negotiations that rattled the bank's clients and investors.

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, in written testimony prepared for a Senate hearing on Tuesday, said his firm "certainly did not bet against our clients."

Recently released emails show how Goldman Sachs built its mortgage business by closely working with lenders such as Washington Mutual and Long Beach, two firms that a Senate review said "polluted the financial system" with souring loans.

A Senate investigation into the financial crisis has found that Goldman Sachs, the storied Wall Street investment bank, sought to profit from the historic decline in housing prices by betting against the US mortgage market.

Goldman Sachs said Tuesday its first-quarter earnings almost doubled to $3.3 billion as its trading business again surpassed the rest of the financial industry. A top lawyer for the bank, which is facing civil fraud charges, said Goldman would "never intentionally mislead anyone."

In a civil suit filed Friday, the S.E.C. accused the investment bank of securities fraud over a deal in which Goldman profited from bets against products it sold to customers.

Big shareholders at Goldman Sachs have asked the U.S.