The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Saul Martinez: Okay. Thanks. That’s helpful. And then maybe just following up on Basel and the implications of it being softened, Denis, you mentioned more flexibility on capital deployment, if given the direction of travel on Basel. I mean, how should we be thinking about buyback activity from here? You did $1.5 billion. Is there — do you feel like there is scope to increase that and potentially bring your payout ratio even closer to 100% of earnings?

Denis Coleman: Sure. I appreciate the question. We were deliberate in our script remarks about the degree of capital flexibility that we expected, but also pick up on something that David said earlier on the call, which is that we remain very committed to our capital deployment hierarchy, which starts with our client franchise. And some of the activities where historically we’ve been able to deploy capital have been less active. And so we have a good amount of cushion and flexibility at this point in time. As our clients become more active, the first place that we’re going to look to deploy our capital is to support our clients and their activities. And after that, we would, of course, as you note, continue to be focused on a sustainable and growing dividend. And only after that would we think about return of capital.

Operator: Thank you. At this time, there are no further questions. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the Goldman Sachs’ first quarter 2024 earnings conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.