Investing.com - Goldman Sachs Group (N:GS) profits slumped for the third straight quarter as a $5 billion settlement of crisis-era legal claims ate into earnings.
Goldman said revenue fell 5% in the fourth quarter from the same quarter a year ago and was down 2% for the year.
Lower revenue pushed fourth-quarter profit down to $765 million, or $1.27 a share, compared with $2.17 billion, or $4.38 a share, in the final quarter of 2014.
Goldman’s profits for the year as a whole declined 31%, to $5.6 billion.
Profits were hit by a recent government settlement which stemmed from claims that Goldman had misled mortgage bond investors during the financial crisis.