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Goldman Sachs Sheds Consumer Loans as Losses Mount



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How much will it cost for Goldman Sachs to extricate itself from a mistake?The Wall Street bank, long known for catering to big corporations and wealthy clients, on Tuesday revealed the latest fallout from its half-decade-long effort to expand into loans and savings products for the less off. Goldman said it had sold off some of those down-market loans and conceded defeat on others, to the tune of nearly $500 million in losses.Goldman has acknowledged a new setback in that arena every few months. In October, the firm cleaved its wobbling consumer offerings, including credit card partnerships and interest-earning accounts, into a separate division. Three months later, the bank disclosed more than $3 billion in losses tied to that business over the previous years.Even for a lender as large as Goldman, the continuous bleeding is no small matter. The bank made $3.2 billion in the first quarter — beating investor expectations and mostly sidestepping the recent deposit runs that roiled regional banks — but it would have been more without its consumer-banking travails.And in an indication that the curtain has yet to come …

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