The results underscore how investment banks can face headaches from their assets even as regulators clamp down on risk-taking.
Goldman, the largest US investment bank by assets, signaled that it is taking steps to cut costs, including employee pay, for the benefit of shareholders. The bank's third-quarter net revenue totaled $3.6 billion, down 60 percent from a year earlier -- its sixth consecutive year-over-year revenue decline. Wall Street has struggled with new regulations and choppy markets.
Big declines in Goldman's bond-trading and underwriting revenue also weighed on results, more than offsetting gains from equity sales and trading and its advisory business.