[leverage]

Actually, GS will never be a "normal" bank holding company. Their commercial banking business is open to a very select number of clients, and will stay that way. GS became a BHC because they would have access to the Fed's emergency funds in case of another major crash -- a line of defense. GS hardly makes any money from their commercial banking arm.

GS's core business will remain their cash cows: Investment Banking, Securities, and Asset Management (in that order). GS will NEVER wind down their Investment Banking arm, in which GS is king above all other banks (closely followed by Morgan Stanley).

GS's core businesses actually did quite well relative to the rest of the industry. This loss is really just "on paper", coming primarily from the Private Equity portfolios. GS has a reputation for aggressively marking-to-market, and their PE portfolio lost a lot of value on paper because the equity markets shit the bed this quarter.