Goldman Sachs shares close lower on Tuesday, Wall Street bank to open a new office in Birmingham

Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS) said on Tuesday that it intended to open a new office in the city of Birmingham, as it seeks to expand its office space in Britain at a moment when other banks are doing quite the opposite because of the coronavirus crisis.

According to Goldman, the first employees are to start working in the new office during the third quarter of 2020, while the bank plans to bolster its headcount there to several hundred over time.

The Wall Street bank said that its engineering unit would be the first to locate personnel in Birmingham through both hiring and transfers.

Goldman Sachs shares closed lower for the fifth time in the past ten trading sessions in New York on Tuesday. It has also been the steepest single-session loss since April 5th. The stock went down 1.25% ($4.16) to $327.68, after touching an intraday low at $324.25, or a price level not seen since April 8th ($322.97).

Shares of Goldman Sachs Group Inc have risen 24.26% so far in 2021 compared with a 10.26% gain for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2020, Goldman Sachs Group’s stock went up 14.69%, thus, it underperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 16.26% gain.

“We see tremendous opportunity to enhance our UK presence and continue delivering for our global clients,” Richard Gnodde, chief executive officer for Goldman Sachs International, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

In contrast, other leading financial institutions, including HSBC, have quickly introduced deep office cuts in retail banking in particular, while some of their employees have been sent to work from home permanently.