Businessweek

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. operates as the global investment banking, securities, and investment management company, which provides a range of financial services to client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments, and high-net-worth individuals. As of December 2012, the company had offices in approximately 30 countries. Segments The company’s segments include Investment Banking, Institutional Client Services, Investing & Lending, and Investment Management. INVESTMENT BANKING This segment serves corporate and government clients worldwide. The company provides financial advisory services and help companies raise capital to strengthen and grow their businesses. The company seeks to develop and maintain long-term relationships with a global group of institutional clients, including governments, states and municipalities. Financial Advisory: Financial Advisory includes strategic advisory assignments with respect to mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, corporate defense activities, risk management, restructurings and spin-offs. In particular, the company helps clients execute large, complex transactions for which it provides multiple services, including ‘one-stop’ acquisition financing and cross-border structuring expertise. Financial Advisory also includes revenues from derivative transactions directly related to these client advisory assignments. The company also assists its clients in managing their asset and liability exposures and their capital. In addition, it may provide lending commitments and bank loan and bridge loan facilities in connection with its advisory assignments. Underwriting: The other core activity of Investment Banking is helping companies raise capital to fund their businesses. As a financial intermediary, the company’s job is to match the capital of its investing clients — who aim to grow the savings of millions of people — with the needs of its corporate and government clients — who need financing to generate growth, create jobs and deliver products and services. The company’s underwriting activities include public offerings and private placements, including domestic and cross-border transactions, of a range of securities and other financial instruments. Underwriting also includes revenues from derivative transactions entered into with corporate and government clients in connection with its underwriting activities. Equity Underwriting: The company underwrites common and preferred stock and convertible and exchangeable securities. Debt Underwriting: The company underwrites and originates various types of debt instruments, including investment-grade and high-yield debt, bank loans and bridge loans, and emerging- and growth-market debt, which may be issued by, among others, corporate, sovereign, municipal, and agency issuers. In addition, the company underwrites and originates structured securities, which include mortgage-related securities and other asset-backed securities. INSTITUTIONAL CLIENT SERVICES This segment serves its clients who come to the firm to buy and sell financial products, raise funding and manage risk. The company acts as a market maker and offering market expertise on a global basis. Institutional Client Services makes markets and facilitates client transactions in fixed income, equity, currency and commodity products. In addition, the company makes markets in and clear client transactions on major stock, options and futures exchanges worldwide. The company’s clients are primarily institutions that are professional market participants, including investment entities whose ultimate customers include individual investors investing for their retirement, buying insurance or putting aside surplus cash in a deposit account. Through its global sales force, the company maintains relationships with its clients, receiving orders and distributing investment research, trading ideas, market information and analysis. As a market maker, the company provides prices to clients globally across various products in all major asset classes and markets. Institutional Client Services and its other businesses are supported by its Global I