The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS: $347.32(-2.00%) on Tuesday reported its fourth-quarter earnings, wherein profits fell short of analysts’ expectations owing to the 23% increase in operating expenses that includes higher compensation for Wall Street workers and larger litigation reserves.

Net provisions for litigation and regulatory proceedings during the quarter were $182 million, as against $24 million a year ago.

Q4 Earnings & Revenue In brief:
The earnings came in at $10.81 a share as against the $11.76 expectation, according to Refinitiv.
The company attracted revenue of $12.64 billion, below the estimate of $12.08 billion.
The multinational investment bank reported net revenues of $59.34 billion and net earnings of $21.64 billion in fiscal 21.

In the fourth quarter, net revenues came in at $12.64 billion, up 8% from Q4FY20 and 7% lower than Q3FY21. The year-over-year increase underpins the higher net revenues generated in Investment Banking and Consumer & Wealth Management, partially offset by lower net revenues in Asset Management and Global Markets.

Diluted earnings stood at $59.45 per share for the full fiscal as against $24.74 a year ago, while in the fourth quarter it was $10.81 a share as against $12.08 during the same period last year, while in the third quarter of the concluded fiscal, earnings stood at $14.93.

Net provisions for litigation and regulatory proceedings slashed diluted EPS by $9.51 in fiscal 21.

Just like JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, too, saw its expenses coming high during the quarter as it had to shell out extra to pay employees more after another year of outperformance.

Goldman said operating expenses soared 23% to $7.27 billion in the quarter, surpassing the $6.77 billion estimate of analysts surveyed by FactSet. The compensation and benefits for employees were “substantially higher,” as were technology expenses, and $182 million set aside for litigation and regulatory fees also added to the reason behind hiked expenditure.

“Goldman Sachs’ disappointing Q4 earnings are a stark reminder that wage inflation is hitting the banking sector hard,” Octavio Marenzi, CEO of bank consultancy Opimas, said in an emailed statement. “It is clear that employees are able to demand significantly higher pay.”

Goldman CEO David Solomon said that the bank has an impressive 2021 by several metrics. Thanks to record investment banking and asset management results, it posted record full-year revenue and profit combined with the highest returns in more than ten years.

Investment banking revenue surged 45% in the reporting quarter to $3.8 billion, beating analysts’ estimate by about $550 million.

Net revenues in Consumer & Wealth Management came in at $1.97 billion in the quarter ended, 19% higher on a year-over-year basis and 3% lower on a quarter-over-quarter basis.

Asset management revenue of $2.89 billion in the said quarter exceeded the $2.51 billion estimate.

Consumer and wealth management revenue of $1.97 billion matched the expectations.

In the fourth quarter, net revenues in Global Markets declined 7% to $3.99 billion year-over-year and fell 29% quarter-over-quarter.

The fiery trade markets of the previous year are expected to cool down this year. This is likely to be partially offset by robust investment banking revenue owing to a high number of mergers and SPAC transactions.

On the Quantale dashboard, a real-time stock monitoring tool, the stock activity for Goldman Sachs rose nearly 48%, combined with an 88% increase in trading volume on Friday.

Goldman Sachs stock opened at $360.04.

Shares of Goldman have fallen nearly 8% in Tuesday’s intraday.

At 14:28 eastern time, the stock was trading at $354.57.