Goldman Sachs, Morgan, and other major U.S. banks' Q1 stock buyback expenditures hit record highs

ME News report, April 15 (UTC+8). Driven by profit growth and the Trump administration’s more relaxed regulatory rules, the biggest banks in the United States collectively poured a record $33 billion into stock buybacks in the first quarter of 2026, far exceeding market expectations. JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup all carried out the largest stock buybacks in their histories. Bank of America and Morgan Stanley’s buyback amounts also reached the highest levels in years. Oppenheimer’s senior analyst Chris Cotowski, who tracks large bank stocks, said, “The actual buyback scale for each bank is 30%, 40%, or even 50% higher than our model predicted.” In addition, the Trump administration is rolling out the most aggressive deregulation policy for Wall Street since the 2008 financial crisis, allowing banks to deploy more resources toward lending and shareholder returns rather than strengthening their capital buffers. (Jin10) (Source: ODAILY)