Key Takeaways

• Goldman Sachs wins on profit and returns. In the second quarter of 2026 it reported net earnings of $6.63 billion on net revenues of $20.34 billion. By our math, that is roughly 33 cents of profit per revenue dollar.
• Citigroup wins on sheer revenue. Citi booked $24.8 billion of revenue and $5.8 billion of net income in the same quarter. That works out to about 23 cents of profit per revenue dollar.
• They are different kinds of bank. Goldman is a markets, advisory and asset-management house. Citi is a global transaction bank with a wealth arm, a markets desk and a U.S. consumer business.
• Returns separate the two. Goldman’s return on tangible common equity was 21.3% in the first quarter, while Citi was running at about 13% in the second quarter and still guiding to 10% to 11% for the full year.
• “Leads” depends on the yardstick. Profitability points to Goldman. Global payments plumbing, balance-sheet breadth and turnaround upside point to Citi.

Ask ten bankers which of these two firms leads global finance and you will get ten answers, usually shaped by which floor they work on. A trader at Goldman and a treasury specialist at Citi are, in practice, living in different industries that happen to share a zip code.

So let’s settle it with a scoreboard instead of a debate. This guide compares the two banks using their own filings for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, then adds the context raw numbers can’t carry: strategy, capital return and the unfinished business sitting inside Citi’s turnaround.

One caution before the table. Per-share figures are not comparable across the two firms. Goldman’s $20.98 earnings per share and Citi’s $3.15 reflect very different share prices and share counts, not a seven-fold gap in quality. Compare margins, growth and returns instead.

The Q2 2026 Scorecard

Sources: Goldman Sachs Q2 2026 earnings release, Citigroup’s Q2 2026 Form 10-Q and Citi’s Q2 earnings-call highlights. The Goldman return figure comes from the first quarter, the latest in our sources, so treat the ROTCE gap as directional rather than a perfect like-for-like comparison.

How Goldman Sachs Makes Its Money

Goldman’s second quarter was loud. Net revenues rose 39% from a year earlier and 18% from the first quarter. The filing credits the jump primarily to Global Banking & Markets, which produced $15.52 billion, up 53% year over year.

The second engine, Asset & Wealth Management, added $4.60 billion, up 20%. Across the first half of 2026, Goldman generated $37.57 billion of net revenues and $12.26 billion of net earnings.

What does that mix tell you?

• Trading and advisory income is cyclical. It tends to swell when volatility is high and clients are repositioning, which describes much of 2026 so far.
• Asset and wealth management is steadier. Management fees and client inflows give Goldman a base that doesn’t depend on any single week of market chaos.
• The model is capital-light relative to a deposit-funded bank. That is part of why profit per revenue dollar looks so strong, and part of why earnings can swing harder than Citi’s.

The board also lifted the quarterly dividend to $5.00 per share for the third quarter. That is the kind of move a firm makes when it feels good about its earnings power, though dividends are never guaranteed.

How Citigroup Makes Its Money

Citi is built differently. It reports five interconnected businesses (Services, Markets, Banking, Wealth and U.S. Personal Banking) plus a set of legacy franchises being wound down or sold.

In the second quarter, net interest income reached $17.1 billion, up 13%, while non-interest revenue was $7.6 billion, up 18%. One detail stands out: Markets non-interest revenue was $3.0 billion against $3.2 billion a year earlier, so the growth did not come from the trading floor. It came from deposits, fees and the transaction-banking machinery underneath.

That machinery is Services, Citi’s treasury, trade and securities-services franchise. CEO Jane Fraser said it delivered its highest quarterly revenue ever and a return above 30%, per the earnings-call recap.

Think of Services as the plumbing of cross-border commerce. When a multinational moves cash between 90 countries, Citi often sits in the middle. That position is slow to build, hard to replicate and surprisingly sticky.

Profitability and Returns: The Gap That Matters

Return on tangible common equity (ROTCE) measures how much profit a bank earns on the shareholder capital that isn’t tied up in goodwill and intangibles. Analysts lean on it because it translates “how big is the bank” into “how well does the bank use its capital.”

Here is how the two stack up against peers, using first-quarter 2026 figures from Banking Dive:

• JPMorgan: 23%
• Goldman Sachs: 21.3%
• Bank of America: 16%
• Wells Fargo: 14.5%
• Citigroup: 13.1%

Citi is improving fast, with second-quarter net income up 45%, but it is still catching up to the pack. Goldman sits near the top of the table.

Citi’s Unfinished Business

If Goldman’s story is “keep executing,” Citi’s story is “finish the rebuild.” Four items matter.

1. A long runway of return targets

Citi still guides to 10% to 11% ROTCE for 2026. At its May investor day it set a path of 11% to 13% for 2027 and 2028, then 14% to 15% across 2029 to 2031, according to Reuters. Some investors wanted a bolder near-term number, and RBC analysts called the near-term target underwhelming. Management keeps describing 2026 as a waypoint, not a destination.

2. The Banamex exit

Citi has now sold 49% of Banamex, its Mexican consumer franchise. It does not expect further sales in 2026, plans to deconsolidate early in 2027, and will pursue an IPO when markets allow.

3. Capital return

The $30 billion buyback commitment and the planned dividend increase signal confidence, and they shrink the share count, which helps per-share math over time.

4. The transformation program

Fraser said a large body of work passed internal-audit validation during the quarter. For a bank that has spent years under regulatory pressure to fix its controls, that is quiet but meaningful progress.

Which Bank Leads? Seven Lenses

If you force a single verdict, Goldman “leads” on the metric Wall Street weighs most, which is returns on capital. Citi “leads” on the breadth of its global footprint. Neither answer is wrong. They just answer different questions.

What to Watch Next

If you follow bank stocks, three things deserve a spot on your calendar. This is general information, not investment advice.

• Third-quarter earnings. Both banks typically report in mid-October, so check each firm’s investor-relations calendar for exact dates.
• Citi’s ROTCE path. The gap between roughly 13% today and the 14% to 15% medium-term target is the whole equity story.
• Goldman’s trading durability. A quarter of revenue up 39% sets a high bar for the next one.

Asked & Answered

Is Goldman Sachs more profitable than Citigroup?

On the latest quarterly numbers, yes. Goldman earned $6.63 billion on $20.34 billion of revenue, while Citi earned $5.8 billion on $24.8 billion. Goldman converts more of each revenue dollar into profit.

What is ROTCE, and why do analysts care so much?

ROTCE is return on tangible common equity. It shows how efficiently a bank turns shareholder capital into profit, excluding goodwill and intangibles. It is the cleanest single yardstick for comparing banks of different sizes.

Are Goldman and Citi direct competitors?

Partly. They overlap in investment banking and markets trading. Beyond that, Citi is also a global payments, custody, wealth and credit-card business, while Goldman is far more focused on markets, advisory and asset management.

Does the Banamex sale matter for investors?

It does. Selling Banamex releases capital, simplifies the company and clears a long-running distraction. Deconsolidation is expected early in 2027, with an IPO to follow when conditions are right.

When do Goldman and Citi report next?

Both normally publish third-quarter results in mid-October. Confirm the exact dates on each company’s investor-relations page before you plan around them.

Kai Cenat turned a month of non-stop livestreaming into the biggest subscriber haul in Twitch history, and the business model underneath it is stranger and more lucrative than it looks.

Key Takeaways

• First to 1 million. On September 28, 2025, Cenat became the first Twitch streamer to pass one million active subscribers, during his third “Mafiathon” subathon (Influencer Marketing Hub).
• Record trajectory. His Mafiathon 2 in November 2024 hit roughly 728,000 subscribers, topping the previous record of 326,250 held by VTuber Ironmouse (Yahoo Tech).
• Scale of attention. Mafiathon 3 tallied 82.5 million hours watched and a peak above one million concurrent viewers (Influencer Marketing Hub).
• Revenue engine. Subscriptions are only one layer; sponsorships, celebrity-driven reach, and brand deals multiply the value of each record.

How a Subathon Makes Money

A subathon is a livestream marathon where each new subscription adds time to the clock. The mechanism is simple and powerful:

1. Viewers subscribe (a Tier 1 sub costs $4.99 a month).
2. Each sub extends the stream, giving fans a stake in the outcome.
3. Gift subs spread the effect, letting communities pool money to push the number higher.
4. Celebrity guests drive news cycles, pulling in casual viewers who may subscribe once.

Cenat’s 2024 event featured guests such as Snoop Dogg, Kevin Hart, Serena Williams, Lizzo, and SZA, per People of Color in Tech, which also reported the stream was staffed to continue while he slept.

The Revenue Math

Platform splits vary, but Twitch has been reported to keep between 30% and 50% of subscription fees (Yahoo Tech). Using that range, here is an illustrative (not reported) calculation for one month of one million Tier 1 subscriptions:

Reality differs: many subscriptions are discounted, gifted in bundles, or on other tiers, and the figure excludes sponsorships and other income. For Mafiathon 2, Yahoo Tech reported an estimated $3.6 million in subscription revenue, a model-based estimate rather than a disclosed number.

Why the Model Works

Attention as an asset

Cenat is the most-followed Twitch streamer, with about 21 million followers, according to Wikipedia. He began streaming on Twitch in February 2021 after moving from YouTube.

Community ownership

Subscribers are not passive; they help set the stream’s length. That participation turns a purchase into an identity.

Event scarcity

Mafiathon happens rarely, so each edition is treated as a cultural moment rather than routine content.

Records as marketing

Every new record generates press coverage that serves as free advertising for the next event.

The Risks Behind the Records

• Concentration risk. One person is the product. Health, burnout, or a platform ban would hit income directly. Cenat was temporarily suspended from Twitch in April 2023 (Wikipedia).
• Platform dependence. Twitch controls the revenue split, rules, and discoverability.
• Subscriber decay. Subathon spikes fade; subscribers often lapse after the event. As of January 6, 2026, Cenat’s channel was listed at about 1.11 million all-time peak subscribers (Wikipedia list), a record, but not a baseline.
• Competition. Streamers such as Jynxzi, IShowSpeed, and others continue to compete for the same audience.

What Marketers and Creators Can Learn

1. Design participation, not just content. Let the audience affect the outcome.
2. Make events rare and recognizable.
3. Use guests as distribution, not just entertainment.
4. Diversify income across subscriptions, brand deals, and owned products.
5. Treat records as campaigns, with a clear narrative arc.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many subscribers does Kai Cenat have?

He passed 1,000,000 active subscribers on September 28, 2025, the first on Twitch to do so (Influencer Marketing Hub).

How much did Mafiathon make?

Mafiathon 2 was estimated at about $3.6 million in subscription revenue, per Yahoo Tech; official figures were not disclosed.

What is a subathon?

A livestream where each new subscription adds time to the broadcast.

How much does Twitch take from subscriptions?

Reported at 30% to 50%, depending on the streamer’s agreement.

Is Kai Cenat the biggest streamer?

He is described as the most-subscribed and most-followed Twitch streamer as of 2026 (Wikipedia).

Kai Cenat did not just build an audience. He built a machine that converts attention into a countdown clock, and then sold the countdown.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has appointed five asset managers — Amundi, Franklin Templeton, HSBC Asset Management, M&G Investments and Natixis Investment Managers — under the third batch of its Equity Market Development Programme (EQDP), deploying a further S$1.45 billion into Singapore’s equity market.

The announcement, made by Minister for National Development and MAS Deputy Chairman Chee Hong Tat at the SuperReturn Asia conference on 29 September 2026, takes total EQDP allocations to S$5.4 billion across 14 managers — 83% of the programme’s expanded S$6.5 billion war chest, following its top-up at Budget 2026.

Alongside the appointments, MAS committed S$20 million from the Financial Sector Development Fund to a new GEMS Market Making Grant aimed at tightening bid-ask spreads in roughly 80 small and mid-cap stocks outside the Straits Times Index.

What is the EQDP? A quick recap

The EQDP was launched in February 2025 as a flagship demand-side measure of the Equities Market Review Group, which MAS convened in August 2024 to revive the Singapore Exchange (SGX). Its twin objectives: develop Singapore’s local fund management industry, and channel sustained institutional capital into Singapore-listed equities — including cornerstone participation in IPOs.

EQDP deployment: the full picture so far

Table

The third batch brings a notably more international flavour than earlier rounds. In his SuperReturn Asia speech, Chee said these managers “bring with them global distribution networks, sources of capital, and expertise that strengthen the depth and dynamism of our public markets” — meaning EQDP money is now explicitly designed to pull in foreign capital alongside domestic allocations.

S$20 million GEMS Market Making Grant: liquidity for the “missing middle”

The second announcement targets a chronic weakness of the SGX: thin trading in its small and mid-cap segment. The new GEMS Market Making Grant will:

• Fund appointed market makers providing liquidity for an initial group of around 80 eligible stocks outside the STI, plus newly listed counters
• Run until 31 December 2028
• Aim for tighter bid-ask spreads, lower execution costs and stronger price discovery
• Review and expand the eligible list regularly

Chee described the target as the “middle segment” — stocks with sufficient trading activity to benefit from market-making support, but not the large, liquid STI constituents. Early signs suggest the broader reform push is working: average daily turnover in Q3 2025 rose 16% year-on-year to S$1.53 billion, the highest since Q1 2021, with IPO fundraising topping S$2 billion, according to MAS data cited by The Straits Times.

The bigger play: anchoring S$7 trillion of asset management in Singapore

Tuesday’s announcements were bookended by measures targeting Singapore’s asset management industry, which now oversees close to S$7 trillion across more than 1,300 managers — growing 7.5% annually over the past five years, per MAS’s August 2026 package:

1. Investment Management Track under the ONE Pass (from late January 2027, with the Ministry of Manpower) — applicants can meet the S$30,000 qualifying salary through a minimum S$15,000 fixed monthly salary plus variable, performance-linked components, reflecting industry compensation norms. Further details are expected at Budget 2027.
2. Tax exemption for profit-related returns from fund management services to qualifying funds, effective from Year of Assessment 2027.
3. A new MAS Hedge Fund Investment Programme to anchor leading hedge fund managers and their ecosystems (prime brokerages, ancillary services) in Singapore.

On licensing, Chee revealed MAS has received more than 500 fund management licence applications over the past three years, with a median approval time of 4.5 months in Q2 2026 — and the fastest approved in just 12 weeks — while pledging to streamline further without lowering standards.

What happens next?

• Batch 4: MAS is reviewing proposals now and expects to announce the next group of EQDP managers in 2027 — S$1.1 billion of the programme remains unallocated.
• Budget 2027: Details of the ONE Pass Investment Management Track, tax exemption and hedge fund programme.
• Market structure reforms: The SGX-Nasdaq dual listing bridge, reduced board lot sizes and the modernised post-trade custody model round out the Review Group’s implementation agenda.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which five asset managers were appointed in the third EQDP batch?

Amundi, Franklin Templeton, HSBC Asset Management, M&G Investments and Natixis Investment Managers, sharing S$1.45 billion.

How much of the EQDP has been allocated?

S$5.4 billion of S$6.5 billion across 14 managers in three batches. A fourth batch is under review for announcement in 2027.

What is the GEMS Market Making Grant?

A S$20 million grant (until end-2028) funding market makers in roughly 80 non-STI small and mid-cap stocks to narrow spreads and improve liquidity.

Can retail investors benefit?

Indirectly — tighter spreads and better price discovery lower trading costs for everyone, and EQDP managers’ funds may include counters retail investors already own.