Goldman Sachs 2012 Annual Report Download - page 36

Management’s Discussion and Analysis
Introduction
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (Group Inc.) is a leading
global investment banking, securities and investment
management firm that provides a wide range of financial
services to a substantial and diversified client base that
includes corporations, financial institutions, governments
and high-net-worth individuals. Founded in 1869, the firm
is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in all
major financial centers around the world.
We report our activities in four business segments:
Investment Banking, Institutional Client Services,
Investing & Lending and Investment Management. See
“Results of Operations” below for further information
about our business segments.
When we use the terms “Goldman Sachs,” “the firm,”
“we,” “us” and “our,” we mean Group Inc., a Delaware
corporation, and its consolidated subsidiaries.
References herein to our Annual Report on Form 10-K are
to our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2012. All references to 2012, 2011 and 2010
refer to our years ended, or the dates, as the context
requires, December 31, 2012, December 31, 2011 and
December 31, 2010, respectively. Any reference to a future
year refers to a year ending on December 31 of that year.
Certain reclassifications have been made to previously
reported amounts to conform to the current presentation.
In this discussion and analysis of our financial condition
and results of operations, we have included information
that may constitute “forward-looking statements” within
the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking
statements are not historical facts, but instead represent
only our beliefs regarding future events, many of which, by
their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside our
control. This information includes statements other than
historical information or statements of current condition
and may relate to our future plans and objectives and
results, among other things, and may also include
statements about the objectives and effectiveness of our risk
management and liquidity policies, statements about trends
in or growth opportunities for our businesses, statements
about our future status, activities or reporting under U.S. or
non-U.S. banking and financial regulation, and statements
about our investment banking transaction backlog. By
identifying these statements for you in this manner, we are
alerting you to the possibility that our actual results and
financial condition may differ, possibly materially, from the
anticipated results and financial condition indicated in
these forward-looking statements. Important factors that
could cause our actual results and financial condition to
differ from those indicated in these forward-looking
statements include, among others, those discussed below
under “Certain Risk Factors That May Affect Our
Businesses” as well as “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A of
our Annual Report on Form 10-K and “Cautionary
Statement Pursuant to the U.S. Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995” in Part I, Item 1 of our Annual Report
on Form 10-K.
34 Goldman Sachs 2012 Annual Report