Goldman Sachs 2013 Annual Report Download - page 34

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 to “the 2013 Form 10-K” are to our Annual
Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2013. All references to 2013, 2012 and 2011
refer to our years ended, or the dates, as the context
requires, December 31, 2013, December 31, 2012 and
December 31, 2011, 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 effect of changes to the
capital and leverage rules applicable to banks and bank
holding companies, the impact of the Dodd-Frank Act on
our businesses and operations, and various legal
proceedings or mortgage-related contingencies as set forth
under “Legal Proceedings” and “Certain Mortgage-
Related Contingencies” in Notes 27 and 18, respectively,
to the consolidated financial statements, as well as
statements about the results of our Dodd-Frank Act and
firm stress tests, 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
the 2013 Form 10-K and “Cautionary Statement Pursuant
to the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995” in Part I, Item 1 of the 2013 Form 10-K.
32 Goldman Sachs 2013 Annual Report