Commodity trading could deliver further hefty profits for banks, led by Goldman Sachs, but there are multiple risks as well as opportunities for dealers.

For the past few years, Goldman Sachs has dangled the promise of something new – a diversification in its business mix that would give shareholders a reason to finally re-rate the stock. But while the firm still has the glint of Goldman on the surface, disappointing earnings are revealing something less valuable underneath. Can its second investor day now fix the legacy of the first?

The UK broadcaster’s chair Richard Sharp is familiar with accusations of conflicts of interest from his time at Goldman Sachs.

Goldman Sachs might wonder if the time is coming to rebrand from being Wall Street’s Bank of Dave (Solomon).

This year has seen banks report markdowns on leveraged finance commitments and related exposures, something that is hardly surprising given what has happened to yields. But even with syndicates struggling to offload some high-profile big deals, the troubles seem oddly muted so far.

David Solomon is having to field some scepticism as he changes Goldman Sachs’s approach to its loss-making consumer banking operation and restructures the firm. But nothing that has been developed is going to waste, and recognising that a business might sit better elsewhere is simply good sense.

Kotak Investment Advisors, the special situations arm of Kotak Mahindra, could have $9 billion under management by early next year. It is led by Srini Sriniwasan, who has applied skills learned at Goldman Sachs to develop the business to where it is today.

If you want to get ahead in investment banking it is time to hit the beach.

Wall Street’s junior human capital resources may not appreciate that there is now a bear market for their output, and that could spell tough times ahead.

If Rishi Sunak prevails in the race to be the UK’s prime minister, then Goldman Sachs will still have one alumnus as head of a leading European economy, even if Mario Draghi steps down from leading Italy.

Trading divisions at banks aren’t just offsetting slumping deal fees, they are also becoming more efficient. They could drive an upgrade in equity valuations.

Goldman Sachs had a knockout year in Africa. The firm has invested heavily in the region, with a clear focus on a few core markets, notably South Africa, where it has moved to a larger office in Johannesburg and added foreign-exchange and fixed-income products that target corporate and institutional investors. In 2019, it joined forces with Investec to provide domestic equity trading services. A year later, it secured a licence to trade futures from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

M&A in Africa last year was the classic one-trick pony, in that all the action took place in a single market, South Africa. Despite that, the competition for this award was fierce. It came down to a straight fight between Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, with the former walking away with the prize in yet another impressive year.

The busiest 12 months ever in M&A fit perfectly with the investments Goldman Sachs has been making in its advisory business.

The businesses for which Goldman Sachs is most renowned dominated investment banking last year – but so much else is going on. The firm is enjoying the pay-off from a long effort to expand middle-market coverage and has successfully built a transaction banking platform from scratch that it can now scale up.

The firm’s strategic focus on mid-market transactions gave it a critical advantage in a banner year for M&A.

Goldman Sachs’s investment bank division excelled during the awards period thanks to a targeted focus on growth sectors such as healthcare, technology and financial sponsor business. This paid off handsomely on its home turf, where the bank dominated the Americas M&A league tables during the awards period, working on 582 deals with a total value of $1.6 trillion for a 30.72% market share. This is slightly ahead of the same period last year where it took 29.52% market share from 408 deals worth $1.15 trillion together.

Investments in new industry sub-sectors have given Goldman Sachs’ financial institutions franchise a new growth engine.

Aggregate investment banking and markets revenues fell 12% at the big five US investment banks in the first quarter of 2022. Their chief executives were confident that dealflow will return, but were also united in their uncertainty over how central bank responses to inflation will play out in markets.

Higher yields and better protections compared with public bonds draw buyers to private placements even as investors cut duration and credit spreads widen.

Energy price volatility driven by war in Ukraine could deliver a windfall to banks such as Goldman Sachs that retain scale in commodity trading. Profits from dealing can also be made without triggering ESG or sanctions-related pain.

Wage inflation leads to substantial cost increases at major Wall Street banks.

Wall Street firms such as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley are muscling in on the booming market for private share trading – and potentially disrupting existing technology platforms.

Asset managers are following the well-trodden route of bankers in shifting from finance to politics.

After setting ambitious targets in its 2020 investor day, Goldman Sachs has been making good on its promises across all areas of the firm.

In a period of unprecedented volatility and disruption, Goldman Sachs has led the field in innovative financing solutions for clients.

A firm famous for its elite connections, aggressive corporate culture and extreme working hours might not seem an obvious candidate for this award, but it is the right one.

Diversification and a more relationship-focused approach to clients helped Goldman Sachs grow its markets business more than any of its big rivals over the awards period.

Euromoney’s inaugural award for innovation goes to a groundbreaking issue of digital native tokens on a public blockchain in a syndicated bond deal that drew interest from 100 investors. While institutional money flows into crypto and DeFi, leading banks and issuers are now also keen to transform traditional markets with digital assets and digital cash.

Kevin Sneader’s next move has been widely discussed since it became clear he would serve only one term as global managing partner at McKinsey. Now that he has turned up at Goldman, it seems a logical move.