Goldman Sachs (GS) To Expand Retail Banking, Moves To UK

Per a Financial Times report, New York-based The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) is planning to spread out its retail banking operations to the U.K., in a bid to counter the current unstable economic environment, and strive for revenue growth in debt trading and equity business with cost management. Notably, the bank enjoys strong market share in the United States.

Digitization Moves

Goldman is not immune in this era of digitization. Last April, this investment bank rolled out a digital savings account on GSBank.com which offered high-interest to clients on their deposits, which can be minimized to $1. Further, in October 2016, the bank took a digital initiative, under which it launched a digital consumer lending platform — Marcus by Goldman Sachs.

Goldman also plans to expand throughout the U.K. with the launch of an online deposit business in mid-2018. “Much like in the US, we’re aiming to offer consumers easy-to-use and higher-returning savings options than [they] might have elsewhere,” said Stephen Scherr, the bank’s head of strategy. Moreover, per Mr. Scherr, Goldman is likely to expand a consumer-lending unit in the U.K. later on.

Conclusion

Goldman Sachs’ strong capital position keeps it well poised to undertake growth initiatives. In addition, the company’s expense-reduction initiatives have been impressive. However, despite benefiting from its diversified businesses, Goldman Sachs has been witnessing declining revenues in its Institutional Client Services division due to the prevailing macroeconomic challenges. Therefore, such moves will bolster the company’s revenue growth.

Additionally, shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have gained around 27% over the past year, outperforming 23.2% growth recorded by the industry it belongs to.

Stocks to Consider

Better-ranked stocks in the same space are LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) , FB Financial Corporation (NYSE:FBK) and Salisbury Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAL) . While LPL Financial flaunts a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), FB Financial and Salisbury Bancorp carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

LPL Financial’s earnings estimates for 2017 have been revised 4.1% upward, over the last 60 days. Further, in a year’s time, the company’s shares have jumped 52.1%.

In the past 60 days, FB Financial’s 2017 earnings estimates moved 2.7% upward. Also, its share price has surged 64.1% in the last year.

Salisbury Bancorp witnessed a 2.4% upward earnings estimates revision for the current year, over the last 60 days. Moreover, over the past year, its shares gained 46.1%.

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