Finance

Goldman Sachs (GS) earnings Q1 2025

Published

1 day ago

April 14, 2025

David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs, testifies during a Senate Banking Committee hearing at the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 6, 2023.

Win Mcnamee | Getty Images

Goldman Sachs is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings before the opening bell Monday.

Here’s what Wall Street expects:

Earnings: $12.35 per share, according to LSEG
Revenue: $14.81 billion, according to LSEG
Trading Revenue: Fixed Income of $4.56 billion and Equities of $3.65 billion, per StreetAccount
Investing Banking Revenue: $1.94 billion, per StreetAccount

Goldman Sachs may prove to be a beneficiary of the recent market environment.

On Friday, rivals JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley each topped expectations for first-quarter results on booming equities trading.

Equities trading revenue surged 48% and 45% at the banks, respectively, thanks to volatility in the opening months of President Donald Trump’s tenure amid his efforts to reshape global trade agreements.

Buoyant markets during most of the quarter, which ended March 31, should also support the bank’s wealth and asset management division, which CEO David Solomon has called the growth engine of the bank.

But markets have churned since Trump escalated trade tensions last week, sowing uncertainty across the world’s largest economy. Goldman shares have dropped 14% this year through Friday.

Analysts will be keen to hear what Solomon has to say about his conversations with corporate clients and institutional investors during the tumult.

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.

Finance

Digital bank Bunq accelerates US expansion effort as profit jumps

Published

26 minutes ago

April 15, 2025

Business Finance News

Dutch digital bank Bunq is plotting re-entry into the U.K. to tap into a “large and underserved” market of some 2.8 million British “digital nomads.”

Pavlo Gonchar | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Dutch digital bank Bunq on Tuesday said it’s filed for broker-dealer registration in the U.S. as it looks to further expand across the Atlantic.

Bunq CEO Ali Niknam said the broker-dealer application will be an initial step toward securing a full banking license. He couldn’t offer a firm timeline for when Bunq will secure this authorization in the U.S. — but said he’s excited for its growth prospects in the country.

Obtaining a broker-dealer license will mean Bunq “can offer our users who have an international footprint — which is the user demography we’re aiming for — a great number of our services,” Niknam told CNBC. Bunq mainly caters for “digital nomads,” individuals who can live and work from anywhere remotely.

Bunq will be able to offer most of its services in the U.S. with the exception of a savings account after securing broker-dealer authorization, Niknam added.

Bunq, which touts itself as a bank for “digital nomads,” currently has a banking license in the European Union. It has applied for an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) in the U.K. Bunq previously had operations in Britain but forced to withdraw from the country in 2020 due to Brexit.

Bunq initially filed for a U.S. Federal bank charter in April 2023. However, it withdrew the application a year later, citing issues between its Dutch regulator and U.S. agencies. The company plans to resubmit its application for a full U.S. banking license later this year.

65% jump in profit

Beyond the update on international expansion, Bunq also on Tuesday reported a 65% year-over-year jump in profit to 85.3 million euros ($97.2 million). That jump was primarily driven by a 55% increase in net interest income, while net fee income also grew 35%.

Similarly to fintech peers such as N26 and Monzo, Bunq has benefited from a high interest rate environment by pocketing yields on customer deposits sat at the central bank.

Bunq’s CEO told CNBC that, while high interest rates have certainly helped, more generally Bunq is seeing increased usage of the platform and has been focused on cost efficiency from an operational perspective.

“Because we are so lean and mean, and because we have set up all of our systems from scratch … we have been able to not only increase our profits, but also offer very good interest rates in the European market in general, and in the Netherlands specifically,” Niknam said.

Ripple president says crypto 'here to stay' regardless of short-term volatility

More recently, central banks in the EU and U.K. and U.S. have moved to slash interest rates in response to falling inflation and concerns of an economic slowdown, which can bite into bank earnings.

Niknam said he’s not concerned by the prospect of rates coming down and expects potential declines in interest income to be offset by a “diversified” revenue mix that includes income from paid subscription products, as well as new features. Bunq recently launched a tool that lets users trade stocks.

“This is different in continental Europe to the U.K. We had negative interest rates for long,” Niknam told CNBC. “So as we were growing, actually our cost base was also growing because we had to pay for all the deposits that people deposited a Bunq so I think we’re in a great position in 2025

Bunq is coming up against heaps of competition, especially in the U.S. market. America is already served by established consumer banking giants, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup. It’s also home to several major fintech brands, such as Chime and Robinhood.