In the mix of the results, the US firm's private banking segment enjoyed stronger revenues. Looking ahead, Goldman Sachs said it has raised margin targets for the medium term in its wealth and asset management area.

Goldman Sachs has reported a 20 per cent year-on-year rise in net earnings for 2025 to $17.2 billion, driven by a 9 per cent rise in total revenues, at $58.3 billion.

Total operating costs rose 11 per cent to $37.54 billion, the US-headquartered group said in a statement yesterday, adding to a run of US financial institutions reporting quarterly and full-year figures in recent days.

Within the asset and wealth management side, net revenues rose slightly, up 2 per cent on a year before, to $16.679 billion. Within that total, private banking and lending revenues rose by 16 per cent, to $3.347 billion. Management and other fees rose by 11 per cent, and incentive fees rose by 24 per cent. The only down note in 2025 was from the investments category, sliding 50 per cent to $1.3 billion, the firm said. That decline was mainly caused by losses in public equities compared with net gains in 2024 and significantly lower net gains from investments in private equities.

From 2021 to last year, revenues in asset and wealth management have clocked up a 12 per cent compound annual growth rate. Goldman Sachs said it has a medium-term asset and wealth management medium-term pre-tax margin target of about 30 per cent, rising from the mid-20s area previously. Returns are expected to be in the “high teens” from the “mid-teens” previously.

Total wealth management client assets stood at about $1.9 trillion at the end of December 2025. 

Turning to the data on Goldman Sachs’ capital strength, the firm said it had a Common Equity Tier 1 ratio – a standard international measure of a bank’s shock absorber capital – of 15 per cent, down a touch from a year before.

In explaining the path of results since before the 2020 pandemic, the firm pointed out that firm-wide net revenues have almost doubled since 2019, when they stood at $36.55 billion, to $60.54 billion (or $58.28 billion before an Apple Card transition.) Earnings per share have more than doubled over those years, from $21.03 to $51.32 per share.

In the 12 months to 15 January, Goldman Sachs’ shares rose 65.3 per cent.