Goldman Sachs eliminates Series T preferred stock in capital cleanup filing

Goldman Sachs quietly erased a legacy slice of preferred capital after redeeming all outstanding Series T shares and then filing to remove the series from its charter. The move was small on paper, but it showed the firm actively trimming and simplifying a capital structure that still has to satisfy regulators, investors and rating agencies.

The company said on April 23 that it would redeem all outstanding shares of its 3.80% Fixed-Rate Reset Non-Cumulative Preferred Stock, Series T, along with the related 675,000 depositary shares, on May 10. Each depositary share represented a 1/25th interest in one preferred share, and Goldman set the redemption price at $1,000 per depositary share, or $25,000 per preferred share, plus any declared and unpaid dividends for the current period.

One day later, Goldman filed a Form 8-K saying a restated certificate of incorporation had been filed with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware on May 11 to eliminate Series T from the charter. The company’s Certificate of Elimination said no Series T preferred shares were outstanding and none would be issued under the old designation. In practical terms, the series was not just redeemed, it was formally removed from the legal structure.

For Goldman’s finance, legal, controller, corporate treasury and investor relations teams, that kind of cleanup is not cosmetic. It is the plumbing that supports future issuance, buybacks and other capital actions, while keeping the balance sheet story cleaner for Washington and Wall Street. Large banks operate under Federal Reserve capital rules that include a minimum 4.5% CET1 ratio, a stress capital buffer and, for some firms, a G-SIB surcharge, so even a narrow preferred-stock elimination can matter to capital planning and distribution capacity.

Series T itself dated to April 22, 2021, when Goldman created the 3.80% Fixed-Rate Reset Non-Cumulative Preferred Stock with a $25,000 liquidation preference per share. Its removal does not signal a retreat from preferred capital altogether. Goldman’s 2025 preferred-stock dividend notices still referenced other outstanding series, including Series A, C, D, O, V, X and Y, which makes the Series T elimination look like targeted housekeeping rather than a broader change in funding strategy.

That is the real takeaway for employees inside Goldman: behind the trading, deal work and compensation debates, the firm is constantly managing older capital layers so the structure stays ready for the next issuance, the next redemption or the next regulatory test. In a business where liquidity and capital are always under scrutiny, even a quiet 8-K can be a signal that the bank is tightening the bolts before the market forces its hand.