BofA’s Lesson for Goldman Sachs: Stick to What You Know

It was right place, right time for Bank of America Corp. in the first quarter. For Goldman Sachs Group Inc., it was the opposite. The former is reaping the benefits of a well-defined, long-standing strategy that got a boost from some targeted investments. The latter is busy fixing recent missteps just as the heat went out of one of its biggest businesses.

The difference between the two was most stark in markets revenue from bonds, interest rates, currencies and commodities, also known as FICC, trading. But consumer banking offered another big contrast: Goldman is cutting its losses on some of its abortive expansion through its Marcus brand and GreenSky acquisition, while Bank of America looked like a safe haven for some depositors during a quarter that saw three smaller US banks fail.