Goldman Sachs clarifies employee expectations in Code of Business Conduct

Goldman Sachs has clarified how employees should interpret the firm’s Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, reinforcing that the document is the central public statement of behavioral expectations for employees worldwide. The Code is presented by the firm as the rulebook that governs day-to-day conduct across divisions and geographies.

The Code sets out Goldman Sachs’ business principles, references key principal policies, and provides guidance on subjects that shape employee decision-making. By naming the Code as the primary source for those principles and references, the firm signals that individual actions should be measured against the document’s standards wherever staff work in the firm’s global operations.

For employees, the practical implication is straightforward: the Code consolidates the firm’s expectations into a single public statement. That consolidation links the firm’s business principles to the principal policies that matter in roles from client coverage to compliance functions, and it serves as the baseline guidance for behavior across the organization’s offices worldwide.

Goldman Sachs’ clarification highlights the Code’s role in internal governance and external accountability. Because the Code is the firm’s public-facing declaration of conduct, employees who advise clients, execute transactions, or handle confidential information will have that document as the referenced standard for permissible conduct. The clarification reinforces that managers and staff should look to the Code first when questions arise about acceptable behavior under the firm’s business principles.

As of February 25, 2026, Goldman Sachs employees should treat the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics as the primary source for understanding the firm’s behavioral expectations and the starting point for resolving conduct questions. The emphasis on a single, central public statement aims to reduce ambiguity for staff worldwide and to align daily practice with the firm’s stated business principles and referenced principal policies.