What Goldman Sachs Is Doing To Fight COVID-19

The following article was posted today on LinkedIn by David Solomon, Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs.

 

By David Solomon

The global coronavirus pandemic is putting extraordinary pressure on all of society, and we believe Goldman Sachs has a responsibility to help. Yesterday, during a global virtual townhall, we discussed some of the ways we are harnessing our resources and experience to do what we can.

For our clients, we are focused on bringing to bear the full scope of the Goldman Sachs platform. One way we are doing that is in our consumer businesses, where we are supporting our customers by allowing them to skip their next month’s payment on Apple Card or Marcus loans without accruing interest. We’re prepared to extend that policy as the environment continues to evolve. As we saw in the unemployment data yesterday, it’s painfully clear that society is going through a sudden and serious shock, and we will be there for our customers throughout the pandemic.

From our own research, we know that small businesses are most at risk from the economic disruption posed by the coronavirus. We've made progress on a small business stimulus package that will provide capital and other resources to small businesses to help them weather the crisis. We’ve announced two commitments thus far, in New York and Chicago, partnering alongside clients to fund emergency loans that support these businesses’ operations and their employees. And we’re working with other cities across the US and around the world to expand our efforts to help small businesses.

But the frontlines are in healthcare. I’m in awe of the work of doctors and nurses around the world, performing under extraordinary pressure to heal the sick and save lives. They are doing this in many cases with a widely reported shortage of critical supplies, including masks. Recognizing the urgency of need, our firm has donated nearly 600,000 masks, accumulated over time after 9/11 and previous epidemics, to the National Health Service in the UK and to hospital systems in New York, New Jersey and across the country. We’re also engaged with ventilator manufacturers and others in the supply chain to try and accelerate delivery of these life-saving devices to places where they are needed most.

We’re also working to ensure our collective giving is impactful. We’ve launched a $25 million global relief fund through Goldman Sachs Gives to support healthcare organizations, frontline responders and the hardest hit communities. To further encourage giving toward COVID-19 relief efforts, we’ve established a special matching gift program for our people, where we will match employee donations $25 or less three-to-one and larger contributions dollar-for-dollar, up to a total of $5 million.

As an employer, we are focused on making sure our people are safe and healthy, and on supporting all those who make our community special. To that end, we are working to ensure all of our service workers, security guards, cafeteria staff and others who make our global campuses welcoming and secure are taken care of while we adjust to the vast majority of our teams working from home.

This is in many ways an unprecedented moment. We are being asked as individuals, as family members, as employees, and as citizens to stand up for each other, and to find ways through each of these roles to support others. As I told our people yesterday, we have to focus on making progress each day, recognizing this is uncharted territory and success will not be quick in coming.

I am incredibly grateful for the people of Goldman Sachs, who have demonstrated compassion, creativity and no small amount of grit, helping each other and our clients navigate countless challenges, while somehow managing their many, many personal responsibilities.

To them, and to all of us, I encourage finding whatever time we can to recharge. Prioritizing our well-being is critical to navigating the journey ahead together.

I asked our people to continue to reach out with feedback and ideas for how we can better. I ask the same of our clients and our community partners. At Goldman Sachs, we know our work has just begun.