And while Goldman traded more in bonds, currencies and commodities on behalf of clients, it also noted that revenue from trading mortgage and interest rate products was down.
Like many of its peers, Goldman is slimming down both to save money and to try to avoid extra scrutiny from regulators. New regulations have dried up old sources of revenue and made it more expensive for banks to hold risky assets. Total assets were down about 2% over the year.
The bank also cut about 2% of its staff, or 600 jobs.
Profit was $1.9 billion after payments to preferred shareholders, compared with $927 million a year ago.
Revenue was $8.6 billion, up 30% from $6.6 billion a year ago. That also beat the expectations of analysts, who had forecast $8 billion.
Revenue from the unit that trades on behalf of clients was up 11%. Revenue from underwriting stocks and bonds soared 45%.
Goldman said it set aside more money, $149 million, for potential lawsuits and regulatory proceedings, but didn’t give detail.