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Added on the 14/10/2020 15:46:15 - Copyright : Wochit
Goldman Sachs on Thursday reached a massive settlement with US authorities regarding a years-long financial scandal in Malaysia. The federal investigation involved the bank's work with Malaysia's 1MDB fund, and found bribes by Goldman executives in their underwriting of $6.5 billion in bond offerings. In a statement, CEO David Solomon admitted the bank's wrongdoing and said it had improved internal risk controls to prevent another incident. The bank also announced "clawback actions" for former employees that were implicated along with reductions in top executives' compensation, including CEO David Solomon.
Following Wednesday's violence on Capitol Hill, Goldman Sachs has made an ask. Goldman Sachs asked small-business owners not to wear "Storm the Hill" T-shirts. The company mailed them for an unrelated event, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The virtual event, planned for January 13, is to encourage small-business owners. The plan was to pressure lawmakers to pass additional COVID-19 relief for businesses. But the bank rebranded the event after pro-Trump terrorists literally stormed the hill on Wednesday.
On Friday, Goldman Sachs predicted the UK's economy will grow 7% in 2021. The growth will be led by the coronavirus vaccine rollout and a Brexit trade deal. Over half of the country's population is expected to be immunized by March. Business Insider reports there will be a significant rebound in economic activity from the second quarter of next year. New trade restrictions are likely to weigh on potential growth in the coming years. Goldman said the drag will mostly be slow to materialize. UK GDP will end the year 11.7% under its pre-pandemic level, twice as much as Germany, France, and Italy.
Goldman Sachs has cut its near-term growth forecasts for the United States. Goldman Sachs based this on spiking COVID-19 cases and slowing economic activity. US gross domestic product will grow 3.5% in the fourth quarter, down from the previous forecast of 4.5%. According to Business Insider first-quarter 2021 growth estimate was also lowered to 1% from 3.5%. Goldman Sachs said the winter drag should give way to a bigger rebound on the back of vaccine distribution.