424B2 1 gs-424b2.htm 424B2 gs-424b2.htm

Filed Pursuant to Rule 424(b)(2) / Registration Statement No. 333-239610

\

GS Finance Corp.  

$25,349,240

Trigger Autocallable Contingent Yield Notes due 2024

guaranteed by

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.

The notes do not pay a fixed coupon and may pay no coupon on a payment date. The amount that you will be paid on your notes is based on the performance of the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust and the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF. The notes will mature on the stated maturity date (January 25, 2024) unless they are automatically called on any determination date commencing in July 2021.

The return on your notes is linked to the performances of the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust and the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF (each, an ETF), and not to that of the S&P 500® Index or the S&P® Regional Banks Select Industry Index (each, an index) on which the respective ETFs are based. The performance of any ETF may significantly diverge from that of its index. In particular, the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF follows a strategy of “representative sampling,” which means such ETF’s holdings are not the same as those of its index.

Your notes will be called if the closing price of each ETF on any determination date commencing in July 2021 is greater than or equal to its initial ETF price ($382.88 with respect to the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust and $57.96 with respect to the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF), resulting in a payment on the applicable payment date (the dates specified on page S-7) equal to the face amount of your notes plus the contingent coupon (described below) then due. The notes will not be called if the closing price of at least one ETF is less than its respective initial ETF price on a determination date.

On each determination date (the dates in January, April, July and October specified on page S-7), unless previously called, if the closing price of each ETF is greater than or equal to 70.00% of its initial ETF price, you will receive on the applicable payment date a contingent coupon of $0.175 for each $10 face amount of your notes. If the closing price of at least one ETF on any determination date is less than 70.00% of its initial ETF price, you will not receive a contingent coupon payment on the applicable payment date.

Unless previously redeemed, the amount that you will be paid on your notes at maturity, in addition to the final contingent coupon, if any, is based on the performance of the lesser performing ETF (the ETF with the lowest ETF return). The ETF return for each ETF is the percentage increase or decrease in the final ETF price of such ETF on the final determination date from its initial ETF price.

At maturity, for each $10 face amount of your notes outstanding, you will receive an amount in cash equal to:

if the final ETF price of each ETF is greater than or equal to 70.00% of its initial ETF price, $10 plus the final contingent coupon;

if the final ETF price of each ETF is greater than or equal to 60.00% of its initial ETF price but the final ETF price of at least one ETF is less than 70.00% of its initial ETF price, $10. You will not receive a final contingent coupon; or

if the final ETF price of at least one ETF is less than 60.00% of its initial ETF price, the sum of (i) $10 plus (ii) the product of (a) the lesser performing ETF return times (b) $10. You will receive less than 60.00% of the face amount of your notes and you will not receive a final contingent coupon.

The maximum return on your notes is 1.75% quarterly (or 7.00% per annum, assuming that you received all four contingent coupon payments in a year), regardless of how much any ETF appreciates.

You should read the disclosure herein to better understand the terms and risks of your investment, including the credit risk of GS Finance Corp. and The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. See page S-15.

The estimated value of your notes at the time the terms of your notes are set on the trade date is equal to approximately $9.54 per $10 face amount. For a discussion of the estimated value and the price at which Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC would initially buy or sell your notes, if it makes a market in the notes, see the following page.

Original issue date:

January 27, 2021

Original issue price:

100% of face amount

Underwriting discount:

2.175% of face amount*

Net proceeds to issuer:

97.825% of face amount

* UBS Financial Services Inc., the selling agent, will receive a selling concession not in excess of 2.00% of the face amount.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any other regulatory body has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense. The notes are not bank deposits and are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency, nor are they obligations of, or guaranteed by, a bank.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC

UBS Financial Services Inc.

Selling Agent

Prospectus Supplement No. 1,355 dated January 22, 2021.

 

 


 

 

The issue price, underwriting discount and net proceeds listed above relate to the notes we sell initially.  We may decide to sell additional notes after the date of this prospectus supplement, at issue prices and with underwriting discounts and net proceeds that differ from the amounts set forth above. The return (whether positive or negative) on your investment in notes will depend in part on the issue price you pay for such notes.

GS Finance Corp. may use this prospectus in the initial sale of the notes. In addition, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, or any other affiliate of GS Finance Corp., may use this prospectus in a market-making transaction in a note after its initial sale.  Unless GS Finance Corp. or its agent informs the purchaser otherwise in the confirmation of sale, this prospectus is being used in a market-making transaction.

 

Estimated Value of Your Notes

The estimated value of your notes at the time the terms of your notes are set on the trade date (as determined by reference to pricing models used by Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC (GS&Co.) and taking into account our credit spreads) is equal to approximately $9.54 per $10 face amount, which is less than the original issue price.  The value of your notes at any time will reflect many factors and cannot be predicted; however, the price (not including GS&Co.s customary bid and ask spreads) at which GS&Co. would initially buy or sell notes (if it makes a market, which it is not obligated to do) and the value that GS&Co. will initially use for account statements and otherwise is equal to approximately the estimated value of your notes at the time of pricing, plus an additional amount (initially equal to $0.41 per $10 face amount).

Prior to July 26, 2021, the price (not including GS&Co.’s customary bid and ask spreads) at which GS&Co. would buy or sell your notes (if it makes a market, which it is not obligated to do) will equal approximately the sum of (a) the then-current estimated value of your notes (as determined by reference to GS&Co.’s pricing models) plus (b) any remaining additional amount (the additional amount will decline to zero on a straight-line basis over the period from the time of pricing through July 25, 2021). On and after July 26, 2021, the price (not including GS&Co.’s customary bid and ask spreads) at which GS&Co. would buy or sell your notes (if it makes a market) will equal approximately the then-current estimated value of your notes determined by reference to such pricing models.

 

 

 

About Your Notes

The notes are part of the Medium-Term Notes, Series F program of GS Finance Corp. and are fully and unconditionally guaranteed by The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. This prospectus includes this prospectus supplement and the accompanying documents listed below. This prospectus supplement constitutes a supplement to the documents listed below and should be read in conjunction with such documents:

Prospectus supplement dated July 1, 2020

Prospectus dated July 1, 2020

The information in this prospectus supplement supersedes any conflicting information in the documents listed above. In addition, some of the terms or features described in the listed documents may not apply to your notes.


S-2


 

$25,349,240

Trigger Autocallable Contingent Yield Notes due 2024

FINAL TERMS

Issuer:

GS Finance Corp.

Guarantor:

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.

ETF/Initial ETF price:

SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust / $382.88 (the closing price of such ETF on the trade date)

ETF/Initial ETF price:

SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF / $57.96 (the closing price of such ETF on the trade date)

Trade date:

January 22, 2021

Original issue date:

January 27, 2021

Stated maturity date:

unless the notes are automatically called, January 25, 2024

Autocall feature:

if, as measured on any call observation date, the closing price of each ETF is greater than or equal to its initial ETF price, your notes will be automatically called; if your notes are automatically called on any call observation date, on the corresponding call payment date, in addition to the contingent coupon then due, you will receive an amount in cash equal to $10 for each $10 face amount of your notes, and no further payments will be made since your notes will no longer be outstanding. If the closing price of at least one ETF is below its initial ETF price on a call observation date, the notes cannot be called.

Cash settlement amount:

if the final ETF price of each ETF is greater than or equal to its coupon barrier, $10 plus the final contingent coupon;

if the final ETF price of each ETF is greater than or equal to its downside threshold but the final ETF price of at least one ETF is less than its coupon barrier, $10; or

if the final ETF price of at least one ETF is less than its downside threshold, the sum of (i) $10 plus (ii) the product of (a) the lesser performing ETF return times (b) $10.

Determination date:

January 22, 2024

Contingent coupon:

$0.175 /quarter (7.00% p.a.)

Downside threshold:

$229.73 with respect to the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust and $34.78 with respect to the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF (in each case, 60.00% of such ETF’s initial ETF price (rounded to the nearest one-hundredth))

Coupon barrier:

$268.02 with respect to the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust and $40.57 with respect to the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF (in each case, 70.00% of such ETF’s initial ETF price (rounded to the nearest one-hundredth))

Final ETF price:

with respect to each ETF, the closing price of such ETF on the determination date, except in the limited circumstances described under “Specific Terms of Your Notes — Consequences of a Market Disruption Event or a Non-Trading Day” on page S-33 and subject to adjustment as provided under “Specific Terms of Your Notes — Discontinuance or Modification of an Underlying ETF” on page S-33

Closing price:

with respect to each ETF on any trading day, the closing price of such ETF, as further described under “Specific Terms of Your Notes — Special Calculation Provisions — Closing Price” on page S-35

ETF return:

with respect to each ETF on the determination date, the quotient of (i) the final ETF price minus the initial ETF price divided by (ii) the initial ETF price, expressed as a percentage

Lesser performing ETF:

the ETF with the lowest ETF return

Lesser performing ETF return:

the ETF return of the lesser performing ETF

Face amount:

$10 per note

Minimum purchase amount:

in connection with the initial offering of the notes, the minimum face amount of notes that may be purchased by any investor is $1,000

Call observation dates:

each coupon determination date specified in the table below commencing July 22, 2021, to the extent the notes are then outstanding, subject to adjustment as described under “Specific Terms of Your Notes — Call Observation Dates” on page S-32.  Although the call observation dates occur quarterly after July 22, 2021, there may not be an equal number of days between call observation dates.

Call payment dates:

the coupon payment date immediately after the applicable call observation date, subject to adjustment as described under “Specific Terms of Your Notes — Call Payment Dates” on page S-32

 

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Original issue price:

100% of the face amount

CUSIP / ISIN:

36259U576 / US36259U5763

No listing:

the offered notes will not be listed or displayed on any securities exchange or interdealer market quotation system

 

Coupon Determination Dates*

Coupon Payment Dates**

April 22, 2021

April 26, 2021

July 22, 2021 Ɨ

July 26, 2021

October 22, 2021

October 26, 2021

January 24, 2022

January 26, 2022

April 22, 2022

April 26, 2022

July 22, 2022

July 26, 2022

October 24, 2022

October 26, 2022

January 23, 2023

January 25, 2023

April 24, 2023

April 26, 2023

July 24, 2023

July 26, 2023

October 23, 2023

October 25, 2023

January 22, 2024

January 25, 2024

*Subject to adjustment as described under “Specific Terms of Your Notes — Coupon Determination Dates” on page S-31 of this prospectus supplement

**Subject to adjustment as described under “Specific Terms of Your Notes — Contingent Coupon and Coupon Payment Dates” on page S-31 of this prospectus supplement

Ɨ This is the first date on which your notes may be automatically called.

 

 

S-4


 

 

Summary Information

We refer to the notes we are offering by this prospectus supplement as the “offered notes” or the “notes”. Each of the offered notes has the terms described below and under “Specific Terms of Your Notes” on page S-29. Please note that in this prospectus supplement, references to “GS Finance Corp.”, “we”, “our” and “us” mean only GS Finance Corp. and do not include its subsidiaries or affiliates, references to “The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.”, our parent company, mean only The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. and do not include its subsidiaries or affiliates and references to “Goldman Sachs” mean The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. together with its consolidated subsidiaries and affiliates, including us. Also, references to the “accompanying prospectus” mean the accompanying prospectus, dated July 1, 2020, and  references to the “accompanying prospectus supplement” mean the accompanying prospectus supplement, dated July 1, 2020, for Medium-Term Notes, Series F, in each case of GS Finance Corp. and The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. References to the “indenture” in this prospectus supplement mean the senior debt indenture, dated as of October 10, 2008, as supplemented by the First Supplemental Indenture, dated as of February 20, 2015, each among us, as issuer, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., as guarantor, and The Bank of New York Mellon, as trustee. This indenture, as so supplemented and as further supplemented thereafter, is referred to as the “GSFC 2008 indenture” in the accompanying prospectus supplement.

Key Terms

Issuer:  GS Finance Corp.

Guarantor: The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.

Underlying ETFs: the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust (Bloomberg symbol, “SPY UP Equity”), and the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF (Bloomberg symbol, “KRE UP Equity”); see “The Underlying ETFs” on page S-40.

Underlying indices (each individually, an underlying index): with respect to the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust, the S&P 500® Index, and  with respect to the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF, the S&P Regional Banks Select Industry Index

Specified currency:  U.S. dollars (“$”)

Face amount:  each note will have a face amount equal to $10; $25,349,240 in the aggregate for all the offered notes; the aggregate face amount of the offered notes may be increased if the issuer, at its sole option, decides to sell an additional amount of the offered notes on a date subsequent to the date of this prospectus supplement

Denominations:  $10 and integral multiples of $10 in excess thereof

Minimum purchase amount:  In connection with the initial offering of the notes, the minimum face amount of notes that may be purchased by any investor is $1,000

Supplemental plan of distribution:  GS Finance Corp. will sell to Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC (“GS&Co.”), and GS&Co. will purchase from GS Finance Corp., the aggregate face amount of the offered notes specified on the front cover of this prospectus supplement. GS&Co. will sell the notes to UBS Financial Services Inc., the selling agent, at 100% of the face amount of the notes.  UBS Financial Services Inc. will sell the notes to fee-based advisory accounts for which it is an investment advisor and will not receive any portion of the underwriting discount or any sales commission relating to these sales.  See “Supplemental Plan of Distribution” on page S-66

Purchase at amount other than face amount: the amount we will pay you for your notes on a call payment date or the stated maturity date, as the case may be, will not be adjusted based on the issue price you pay for your notes, so if you acquire notes at a premium (or discount) to face amount and hold them to a call payment date or the stated maturity date, it could affect your investment in a number of ways. The return on your investment in such notes will be lower (or higher) than it would have been had you purchased the notes at face amount. See “Additional Risk Factors Specific to Your Notes — If You Purchase Your Notes at a Premium to Face Amount, the Return on Your Investment Will Be Lower Than the Return on Notes Purchased at Face Amount and the Impact of Certain Key Terms of the Notes Will Be Negatively Affected” on page S-21 of this prospectus supplement

Supplemental discussion of U.S. federal income tax consequences: you will be obligated pursuant to the terms of the notes — in the absence of a change in law, an administrative determination or a judicial ruling to the contrary — to characterize each note for all tax purposes as an income-bearing pre-paid

S-5

 


 

derivative contract in respect of the underlying ETFs, as described under “Supplemental Discussion of U.S. Federal Income Tax Consequences” herein.  Pursuant to this approach, it is the opinion of Sidley Austin llp that it is likely that any contingent coupon payment will be taxed as ordinary income in accordance with your regular method of accounting for U.S. federal income tax purposes.  If you are a United States alien holder of the notes, we intend to withhold on contingent coupon payments made to you at a 30% rate or at a lower rate specified by an applicable income tax treaty.  In addition, upon the sale, exchange, redemption or maturity of your notes, it would be reasonable for you to recognize capital gain or loss equal to the difference, if any, between the amount of cash you receive at such time (excluding amounts attributable to any contingent coupon payment) and your tax basis in your notes.  

Cash settlement amount (on any call payment date):  if your notes are automatically called on a call observation date because the closing price of each underlying ETF is greater than or equal to its initial underlying ETF price, for each $10 face amount of your notes, on the related call payment date, we will pay you an amount in cash equal to the sum of (i) $10 plus (ii) the contingent coupon then due

Autocall feature:  if, as measured on any call observation date, the closing price of each underlying ETF is greater than or equal to its initial underlying ETF price, your notes will be automatically called; if your notes are automatically called on any call observation date, on the corresponding call payment date, in addition to the contingent coupon then due, you will receive an amount in cash equal to $10 for each $10 face amount of your notes, and no further payments will be made since your notes will no longer be outstanding. If the closing price of at least one underlying ETF is below its initial underlying ETF price on a call observation date, the notes cannot be called.

Cash settlement amount (on the stated maturity date):  if your notes are not automatically called, for each $10 face amount of your notes, we will pay you on the stated maturity date an amount in cash equal to:

if the final underlying ETF price of each underlying ETF is greater than or equal to its coupon barrier, $10 plus the final contingent coupon;

if the final underlying ETF price of each underlying ETF is greater than or equal to its downside threshold but the final underlying ETF price of at least one underlying ETF is less than its coupon barrier, $10; or

if the final underlying ETF price of at least one underlying ETF is less than its downside threshold, the sum of (i) $10 plus (ii) the product of (a) the lesser performing underlying ETF return times (b) $10.

Downside threshold: $229.73 with respect to the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust and $34.78 with respect to the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF (in each case, 60.00% of such underlying ETF’s initial underlying ETF price (rounded to the nearest one-hundredth))

Lesser performing underlying ETF return:  the underlying ETF return of the lesser performing underlying ETF

Lesser performing underlying ETF:  the underlying ETF with the lowest underlying ETF return

Contingent coupon:  subject to the autocall feature, on each coupon payment date, for each $10 face amount of your notes, we will pay you an amount in cash equal to:

 

if the closing price of each underlying ETF on the related coupon determination date is greater than or equal to its coupon barrier, $0.175 (i.e., equal to a return of 7.00% per annum); or

if the closing price of at least one underlying ETF on the related coupon determination date is less than its coupon barrier, $0.00

No contingent coupon payment or return of principal is guaranteed. As discussed above, we will not pay a contingent coupon with respect to any coupon determination date on which the closing price of at least one underlying ETF is less than its respective coupon barrier. Also, although both the coupon determination dates and coupon payment dates occur quarterly, there may not be an equal number of days between coupon determination dates or between coupon payment dates, respectively.  However, the way in which the contingent coupon is determined will not vary based on the actual number of days between coupon determination dates or between coupon payment dates.

Coupon barrier: $268.02 with respect to the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust and $40.57 with respect to the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF (in each case, 70.00% of such underlying ETF’s initial underlying ETF price (rounded to the nearest one-hundredth))

Initial underlying ETF price: $382.88 with respect to the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust and $57.96 with respect to the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF (in each case, the closing price of such underlying ETF on the trade date)

S-6

 


 

Final underlying ETF price: with respect to each underlying ETF, the closing price of such underlying ETF on the determination date, except in the limited circumstances described under “Specific Terms of Your Notes — Consequences of a Market Disruption Event or a Non-Trading Day” on page S-33 and subject to adjustment as provided under “Specific Terms of Your Notes — Discontinuance or Modification of an Underlying ETF” on page S-33

Closing price:  with respect to each underlying ETF on any trading day, the closing price of such underlying ETF, as further described under “Specific Terms of Your Notes — Special Calculation Provisions — Closing Price” on page S-35, subject to anti-dilution adjustments as described under “Specific Terms of Your Notes — Anti-dilution Adjustments” on page S-34.

Underlying ETF return:  with respect to each underlying ETF, the quotient of (i) the final underlying ETF price minus the initial underlying ETF price divided by (ii) the initial underlying ETF price, expressed as a percentage

Defeasance: not applicable

No listing: the offered notes will not be listed or displayed on any securities exchange or interdealer market quotation system

Business day:  as described under “Specific Terms of Your Notes – Special Calculation Provisions – Business Day” on page S-35

Trading day:  as described under “Specific Terms of Your Notes – Special Calculation Provisions – Trading Day” on page S-35

Trade date:  January 22, 2021

Original issue date (settlement date): January 27, 2021

Determination date:  January 22, 2024, subject to adjustment as described under “Specific Terms of Your Notes — Determination Date” on page S-31

Stated maturity date:  January 25, 2024, subject to adjustment as described under “Specific Terms of Your Notes — Stated Maturity Date” on page S-31

Call observation dates: each coupon determination date specified in the table below commencing July 22, 2021, to the extent the notes are then outstanding, subject to adjustment as described under “Specific Terms of Your Notes — Call Observation Dates” on page S-32.  Although the call observation dates occur quarterly after July 22, 2021, there may not be an equal number of days between call observation dates.

Call payment dates: the coupon payment date immediately after the applicable call observation date, subject to adjustment as described under “Specific Terms of Your Notes — Call Payment Dates” on page S-32

Coupon determination dates: the dates specified as such in the table under the section “Coupon payment dates” below, subject to adjustment as described under “Specific Terms of Your Notes — Coupon Determination Dates” on page S-32. Although the coupon determination dates occur quarterly, there may not be an equal number of days between coupon determination dates.

Coupon payment dates: the dates specified in the table below, subject to adjustment as described under “Specific Terms of Your Notes — Contingent Coupon and Coupon Payment Dates” on page S-32. Although the coupon payment dates occur quarterly, there may not be an equal number of days between coupon payment dates.  


S-7

 


 

 

Coupon Determination Dates

Coupon Payment Dates

April 22, 2021

April 26, 2021

July 22, 2021 Ɨ

July 26, 2021

October 22, 2021

October 26, 2021

January 24, 2022

January 26, 2022

April 22, 2022

April 26, 2022

July 22, 2022

July 26, 2022

October 24, 2022

October 26, 2022

January 23, 2023

January 25, 2023

April 24, 2023

April 26, 2023

July 24, 2023

July 26, 2023

October 23, 2023

October 25, 2023

January 22, 2024

January 25, 2024

Ɨ This is the first date on which your notes may be automatically called.

Regular record dates:  the scheduled business day immediately preceding the day on which payment is to be made (as such payment date may be adjusted)

Calculation agent:  GS&Co.

CUSIP no.: 36259U576

ISIN no.: US36259U5763

FDIC:  the notes are not bank deposits and are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency, nor are they obligations of, or guaranteed by, a bank

 

S-8

 


 

 

Hypothetical ExampleS

(Hypothetical terms only. Actual terms may vary.)

 

The following examples are provided for purposes of illustration only. They should not be taken as an indication or prediction of future investment results and are intended merely to illustrate (i) the impact that various hypothetical closing prices of the underlying ETFs on a coupon determination date could have on the contingent coupon payable on the related coupon payment date and (ii) the impact that the various hypothetical closing prices of the lesser performing underlying ETF on the determination date could have on the cash settlement amount at maturity assuming all other variables remain constant.

The examples below are based on a range of underlying ETF prices of the lesser performing underlying ETF that are entirely hypothetical; no one can predict what the underlying ETF price of any underlying ETF will be on any day throughout the life of your notes, what the closing price of any underlying ETF will be on any coupon determination date or call observation date, as the case may be, and what the final underlying ETF price of the lesser performing underlying ETF will be on the determination date. The underlying ETFs have been highly volatile in the past — meaning that the underlying ETF prices have changed substantially in relatively short periods — and their performance cannot be predicted for any future period.

The information in the following examples reflects the hypothetical rates of return on the offered notes assuming that they are purchased on the original issue date at the face amount and held to a call payment date or the stated maturity date.  If you sell your notes in a secondary market prior to a call payment date or the stated maturity date, as the case may be, your return will depend upon the market value of your notes at the time of sale, which may be affected by a number of factors that are not reflected in the examples below such as interest rates, the volatility of the underlying ETFs, the creditworthiness of GS Finance Corp., as issuer, and the creditworthiness of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., as guarantor.  In addition, the estimated value of your notes at the time the terms of your notes are set on the trade date (as determined by reference to pricing models used by GS&Co.) is less than the original issue price of your notes.  For more information on the estimated value of your notes, see “Additional Risk Factors Specific to Your Notes — The Estimated Value of Your Notes At the Time the Terms of Your Notes Are Set On the Trade Date (as Determined By Reference to Pricing Models Used By GS&Co.) Is Less Than the Original Issue Price Of Your Notes” on page S-15 of this prospectus supplement.  The information in the examples also reflect the key terms and assumptions in the box below.


S-9


 

 



Key Terms and Assumptions

Face amount

$10

Initial underlying ETF price of the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust

$382.88

Initial underlying ETF price of the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF

$57.96

Downside threshold

$229.73 in the case of the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust and $34.78 in the case of the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF (in each case, 60.00% of such underlying ETF’s initial underlying ETF price (rounded to the nearest one-hundredth))

Coupon barrier

$268.02 in the case of the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust and $40.57 in the case of the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF (in each case, 70.00% of such underlying ETF’s initial underlying ETF price (rounded to the nearest one-hundredth))

Contingent coupon

$0.175 (7.00% per annum)

Neither a market disruption event nor a non-trading day occurs on any originally scheduled coupon determination date or the originally scheduled determination date

No change in or affecting any ETF, any ETF stock, any policy of the applicable ETF investment advisor or any method by which the applicable underlying index sponsor calculates its underlying index

Notes purchased on original issue date at the face amount and held to the stated maturity date

For these reasons, the actual performance of the underlying ETFs over the life of your notes, the actual underlying ETF prices on any call observation date or coupon determination date, as well as the contingent coupon payable, if any, on each coupon payment date, may bear little relation to the hypothetical examples shown below or to the historical underlying ETF prices shown elsewhere in this prospectus supplement. For information about the underlying ETF prices during recent periods, see “The Underlying ETFs — Historical Closing Prices of the Underlying ETFs” on page S-40. Before investing in the notes, you should consult publicly available information to determine the underlying ETF prices between the date of this prospectus supplement and the date of your purchase of the notes.

Also, the hypothetical examples shown below do not take into account the effects of applicable taxes.  Because of the U.S. tax treatment applicable to your notes, tax liabilities could affect the after-tax rate of return on your notes to a comparatively greater extent than the after-tax return on the underlying ETF stocks.


 

S-10


 

 

Hypothetical Contingent Coupon Payments

With respect to each $10 face amount of notes, the examples below show hypothetical contingent coupons, if any, that we would pay on a coupon payment date if the closing prices of the underlying ETFs on the applicable coupon determination date were the hypothetical closing prices shown.

Scenario 1

Hypothetical Coupon Determination Date

Hypothetical Closing Price of the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust

Hypothetical Closing Price of the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF

Hypothetical Contingent Coupon Paid on Related Coupon Payment Date

First

$200

$30

$0.000

Second

$190

$25

$0.000

Third

$320

$50

$0.175

Fourth

$210

$20

$0.000

Fifth

$200

$25

$0.000

Sixth

$180

$27

$0.000

Seventh

$400

$55

$0.175

Eighth

$150

$26

$0.000

Ninth

$280

$72

$0.175

Tenth

$210

$24

$0.000

Eleventh

$170

$25

$0.000

Twelfth

$180

$28

$0.000

 

 

Total Hypothetical Contingent Coupons Paid

$0.525

In Scenario 1, the hypothetical closing price of each underlying ETF increases and decreases by varying amounts, compared to its initial underlying ETF price, on the hypothetical coupon determination dates.  Because the hypothetical closing price of each underlying ETF on the third, seventh and ninth hypothetical coupon determination dates is greater than or equal to its coupon barrier, hypothetical contingent coupons are paid on the three related hypothetical coupon payment dates and the total of the hypothetical contingent coupons paid in Scenario 1 is $0.525.  Because the hypothetical closing price of at least one of the underlying ETFs on all other hypothetical coupon determination dates is less than its coupon barrier, no contingent coupons will be paid, including at maturity.  Regardless of any contingent coupons paid during the term of the notes, the overall return on your notes may be zero or less.


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Scenario 2

Hypothetical Coupon Determination Date

Hypothetical Closing Price of the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust

Hypothetical Closing Price of the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF

Hypothetical Contingent Coupon Paid on Related Coupon Payment Date

First

$210

$50

$0.000

Second

$170

$55

$0.000

Third

$180

$59

$0.000

Fourth

$150

$52

$0.000

Fifth

$180

$51

$0.000

Sixth

$190

$57

$0.000

Seventh

$160

$53

$0.000

Eighth

$140

$55

$0.000

Ninth

$120

$56

$0.000

Tenth

$180

$50

$0.000

Eleventh

$190

$54

$0.000

Twelfth

$200

$57

$0.000

 

 

Total Hypothetical Contingent Coupons Paid

$0.000

In Scenario 2, the hypothetical closing price of the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust decreases by varying amounts, compared to its initial underlying ETF price, on the hypothetical coupon determination dates and the hypothetical closing price of the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF increases and decreases by varying amounts, compared to its initial underlying ETF price, on the hypothetical coupon determination dates.  Because in each case the hypothetical closing price of the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust is less than its coupon barrier, you will not receive a hypothetical contingent coupon payment on any hypothetical coupon payment date, even though the price of the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF is above its coupon barrier on each hypothetical coupon determination date.  Therefore, the total of the hypothetical contingent coupons paid in Scenario 2 is $0.000. The overall return on your notes will be zero or less.

Scenario 3

Hypothetical Coupon Determination Date

Hypothetical Closing Price of the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust

Hypothetical Closing Price of the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF

Hypothetical Contingent Coupon Paid on Related Coupon Payment Date

First

$200

$20

$0.000

Second

$440

$72

$0.175

 

 

Total Hypothetical Contingent Coupons Paid

$0.175

In Scenario 3, the hypothetical closing price of each underlying ETF decreases, compared to its initial underlying ETF price, on the first hypothetical coupon determination date.  Because the hypothetical closing price of at least one of the underlying ETFs on the first hypothetical coupon determination date is less than its coupon barrier, no coupon will be paid on the first hypothetical coupon payment date. Because the hypothetical closing price of each underlying ETF is greater than or equal to its initial underlying ETF price on the second hypothetical coupon determination date (which is also the first hypothetical call observation date), your notes will be automatically called.  Therefore, on the corresponding hypothetical call payment date, in addition to the hypothetical contingent coupon of $0.175, you will receive an amount in cash equal to $10 for each $10 face amount of your notes.


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Hypothetical Cash Settlement Amount at Maturity

If the notes are not automatically called on any call observation date (i.e., on each call observation date the closing price of at least one underlying ETF is less than its initial underlying ETF price) the cash settlement amount we would deliver for each $10 face amount of your notes on the stated maturity date will depend on the performance of the lesser performing underlying ETF on the determination date, as shown in the table below.  The table below assumes that the notes have not been automatically called on a call observation date and reflects hypothetical cash settlement amounts that you could receive on the stated maturity date.

The prices in the left column of the table below represent hypothetical final underlying ETF prices of the lesser performing underlying ETF and are expressed as percentages of the initial underlying ETF price of the lesser performing underlying ETF.  The amounts in the right column represent the hypothetical cash settlement amounts, based on the corresponding hypothetical final underlying ETF price of the lesser performing underlying ETF, and are expressed as percentages of the face amount of a note (rounded to the nearest one-thousandth of a percent).  Thus, a hypothetical cash settlement amount of 100.000% means that the value of the cash payment that we would deliver for each $10 of the outstanding face amount of the offered notes on the stated maturity date would equal 100.000% of the face amount of a note, based on the corresponding hypothetical final underlying ETF price of the lesser performing underlying ETF and the assumptions noted above.

The Notes Have Not Been Automatically Called

 

 

Hypothetical Final Underlying ETF price of the Lesser Performing Underlying ETF

Hypothetical Cash Settlement Amount at Maturity if the Notes Have Not Been Automatically Called on a Call Observation Date

(as Percentage of Initial Underlying ETF price)

(as Percentage of Face Amount)

99.999%

100.000%*

85.000%

100.000%*

80.000%

100.000%*

75.000%

100.000%*

70.000%

100.000%*

65.000%

100.000%

60.000%

100.000%

59.999%

59.999%

45.000%

45.000%

25.000%

25.000%

10.000%

10.000%

0.000%

  0.000%

*Does not include the final contingent coupon

If, for example, the notes have not been automatically called on a call observation date and the final underlying ETF price of the lesser performing underlying ETF were determined to be 25.000% of its initial underlying ETF price, the cash settlement amount that we would deliver on your notes at maturity would be 25.000% of the face amount of your notes, as shown in the table above.  As a result, if you purchased your notes on the original issue date at the face amount and held them to the stated maturity date, you would lose 75.000% of your investment excluding any contingent coupons you may have received over the term of the notes (if you purchased your notes at a premium to face amount you would lose a correspondingly higher percentage of your investment).  In addition, if the final underlying ETF price of the lesser performing underlying ETF were determined to be 75.000% of its initial underlying ETF price, the cash settlement amount that we would deliver on your notes at maturity would be 100.000% of the face amount of your notes, as shown in the table above.  Because the final underlying ETF price of the lesser performing underlying ETF is greater than or equal to its downside threshold, if you held your notes to the stated maturity date, you would receive $10 for each $10 face amount of your notes.  

The cash settlement amounts shown above are entirely hypothetical; they are based on market prices for the underlying ETF stocks that may not be achieved on the determination date and on assumptions that may prove to be erroneous.  The actual market value of your notes on the stated maturity date or at any other time, including any time you may wish to sell your notes, may bear little relation to the hypothetical cash settlement amounts shown above, and these amounts should not be viewed as an indication of the financial return on an investment in the offered notes.  The hypothetical cash settlement amounts on notes held to the stated maturity date in the examples above assume you purchased your notes at their face amount and have not been adjusted to reflect the actual issue price you pay for your notes. The return on your investment (whether positive or negative) in your notes will be affected by the amount you

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pay for your notes. If you purchase your notes for a price other than the face amount, the return on your investment will differ from, and may be significantly lower than, the hypothetical returns suggested by the above examples. Please read “Additional Risk Factors Specific to Your Notes — The Market Value of Your Notes May Be Influenced by Many Unpredictable Factors” on page S-20.

Payments on the notes are economically equivalent to the amounts that would be paid on a combination of other instruments. For example, payments on the notes are economically equivalent to a bond bought by the holder and one or more options entered into between the holder and us. Therefore, the terms of the notes may be impacted by the various factors mentioned under “Additional Risk Factors Specific to Your Notes — The Market Value of Your Notes May Be Influenced by Many Unpredictable Factors” on page S-20. The discussion in this paragraph does not modify or affect the terms of the notes or the U.S. federal income tax treatment of the notes, as described elsewhere in this prospectus supplement.

 

We cannot predict the actual closing prices of the underlying ETFs on any day, the final underlying ETF prices of the underlying ETFs or what the market value of your notes will be on any particular trading day, nor can we predict the relationship between the closing prices of the underlying ETFs and the market value of your notes at any time prior to the stated maturity date. The actual contingent coupon payment, if any, that a holder of the notes will receive on each coupon payment date, the actual amount that you will receive at maturity, if any, and the rate of return on the offered notes will depend on whether or not the notes are called and the actual closing prices of the underlying ETFs and the actual final underlying ETF prices determined by the calculation agent as described above. Moreover, the assumptions on which the hypothetical examples are based may turn out to be inaccurate. Consequently, the contingent coupon to be paid in respect of your notes, if any, and the cash amount to be paid in respect of your notes on the stated maturity date, if any, may be very different from the information reflected in the examples above.

 

 

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Additional Risk Factors Specific to Your Notes

An investment in your notes is subject to the risks described below, as well as the risks and considerations described in the accompanying prospectus and in the accompanying prospectus supplement. You should carefully review these risks and considerations as well as the terms of the notes described herein and in the accompanying prospectus and the accompanying prospectus supplement. Your notes are a riskier investment than ordinary debt securities. Also, your notes are not equivalent to investing directly in the underlying ETF stocks, i.e., with respect to an underlying ETF to which your notes are linked, the stocks comprising such underlying ETF. You should carefully consider whether the offered notes are appropriate given your particular circumstances.

The Estimated Value of Your Notes At the Time the Terms of Your Notes Are Set On the Trade Date (as Determined By Reference to Pricing Models Used By GS&Co.) Is Less Than the Original Issue Price Of Your Notes

The original issue price for your notes exceeds the estimated value of your notes as of the time the terms of your notes are set on the trade date, as determined by reference to GS&Co.’s pricing models and taking into account our credit spreads. Such estimated value on the trade date is set forth above under “Estimated Value of Your Notes”; after the trade date, the estimated value as determined by reference to these models will be affected by changes in market conditions, the creditworthiness of GS Finance Corp., as issuer, the creditworthiness of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., as guarantor, and other relevant factors.  The price at which GS&Co. would initially buy or sell your notes (if GS&Co. makes a market, which it is not obligated to do), and the value that GS&Co. will initially use for account statements and otherwise, also exceeds the estimated value of your notes as determined by reference to these models.  As agreed by GS&Co. and the distribution participants, this excess (i.e., the additional amount described under “Estimated Value of Your Notes”) will decline to zero on a straight line basis over the period from the date hereof through the applicable date set forth above under “Estimated Value of Your Notes”.  Thereafter, if GS&Co. buys or sells your notes it will do so at prices that reflect the estimated value determined by reference to such pricing models at that time.  The price at which GS&Co. will buy or sell your notes at any time also will reflect its then current bid and ask spread for similar sized trades of structured notes.

In estimating the value of your notes as of the time the terms of your notes are set on the trade date, as disclosed above under “Estimated Value of Your Notes”, GS&Co.’s pricing models consider certain variables, including principally our credit spreads, interest rates (forecasted, current and historical rates), volatility, price-sensitivity analysis and the time to maturity of the notes. These pricing models are proprietary and rely in part on certain assumptions about future events, which may prove to be incorrect. As a result, the actual value you would receive if you sold your notes in the secondary market, if any, to others may differ, perhaps materially, from the estimated value of your notes determined by reference to our models due to, among other things, any differences in pricing models or assumptions used by others. See “— The Market Value of Your Notes May Be Influenced by Many Unpredictable Factors” below.

The difference between the estimated value of your notes as of the time the terms of your notes are set on the trade date and the original issue price is a result of certain factors, including principally the underwriting discount and commissions, the expenses incurred in creating, documenting and marketing the notes, and an estimate of the difference between the amounts we pay to GS&Co. and the amounts GS&Co. pays to us in connection with your notes. We pay to GS&Co. amounts based on what we would pay to holders of a non-structured note with a similar maturity.  In return for such payment, GS&Co. pays to us the amounts we owe under your notes.

In addition to the factors discussed above, the value and quoted price of your notes at any time will reflect many factors and cannot be predicted.  If GS&Co. makes a market in the notes, the price quoted by GS&Co. would reflect any changes in market conditions and other relevant factors, including any deterioration in our creditworthiness or perceived creditworthiness or the creditworthiness or perceived creditworthiness of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. These changes may adversely affect the value of your notes, including the price you may receive for your notes in any market making transaction. To the

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extent that GS&Co. makes a market in the notes, the quoted price will reflect the estimated value determined by reference to GS&Co.’s pricing models at that time, plus or minus its then current bid and ask spread for similar sized trades of structured notes (and subject to the declining excess amount described above).

Furthermore, if you sell your notes, you will likely be charged a commission for secondary market transactions, or the price will likely reflect a dealer discount.  This commission or discount will further reduce the proceeds you would receive for your notes in a secondary market sale.

There is no assurance that GS&Co. or any other party will be willing to purchase your notes at any price and, in this regard, GS&Co. is not obligated to make a market in the notes.  See “— Your Notes May Not Have an Active Trading Market” below.

The Notes Are Subject to the Credit Risk of the Issuer and the Guarantor

Although the contingent coupons (if any) and return on the notes will be based on the performance of each underlying ETF, the payment of any amount due on the notes is subject to the credit risk of GS Finance Corp., as issuer of the notes, and the credit risk of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., as guarantor of the notes. The notes are our unsecured obligations.  Investors are dependent on our ability to pay all amounts due on the notes, and therefore investors are subject to our credit risk and to changes in the market’s view of our creditworthiness. Similarly, investors are dependent on the ability of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., as guarantor of the notes, to pay all amounts due on the notes, and therefore are also subject to its credit risk and to changes in the market’s view of its creditworthiness.  See “Description of the Notes We May Offer — Information About Our Medium-Term Notes, Series F Program — How the Notes Rank Against Other Debt” on page S-5 of the accompanying prospectus supplement and “Description of Debt Securities We May Offer— Guarantee by The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.” on page 68 of the accompanying prospectus.

You May Lose Your Entire Investment in the Notes

You can lose your entire investment in the notes. Assuming your notes are not automatically called, the cash settlement amount on your notes, if any, on the stated maturity date will be based on the performance of the lesser performing of the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust and the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF as measured from their initial underlying ETF prices to their closing prices on the determination date. If the final underlying ETF price of the lesser performing underlying ETF for your notes is less than its downside threshold, you will have a loss for each $10 of the face amount of your notes equal to the product of the lesser performing underlying ETF return times $10. Thus, you may lose your entire investment in the notes, which would include any premium to face amount you paid when you purchased the notes.

Also, the application of the downside threshold applies only at maturity and the market price of your notes prior to a call payment date or the stated maturity date, as the case may be, may be significantly lower than the purchase price you pay for your notes.  Consequently, if you sell your notes before the stated maturity date, you may receive far less than the amount of your investment in the notes.

The Return on Your Notes May Change Significantly Despite Only a Small Change in the Price of the Lesser Performing Underlying ETF

If your notes are not automatically called and the final underlying ETF price of the lesser performing underlying ETF is less than its downside threshold, you will receive less than the face amount of your notes and you could lose all or a substantial portion of your investment in the notes. This means that while a drop of up to 40.00% between the initial underlying ETF price and the final underlying ETF price of the lesser performing underlying ETF will not result in a loss of principal on the notes, a decrease in the final underlying ETF price of the lesser performing underlying ETF to less than 60.00% of its initial underlying ETF price will result in a loss of a significant portion of the face amount of the notes despite only a small change in the price of the lesser performing underlying ETF.

You May Not Receive a Contingent Coupon on Any Coupon Payment Date

You will be paid a contingent coupon on a coupon payment date only if the closing price of each underlying ETF on the applicable coupon determination date is equal to or greater than its coupon barrier.

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If the closing price of at least one underlying ETF on the related coupon determination date is less than its coupon barrier, you will not receive a contingent coupon payment on the applicable coupon payment date. If this occurs on every coupon determination date, whether due to changes in the prices of one or more of the underlying ETFs, the overall return you earn on your notes will be zero or less and such return will be less than you would have earned by investing in a note that bears interest at the prevailing market rate.

Because the Notes Are Linked to the Performance of the Lesser Performing Underlying ETF, You Have a Greater Risk of Receiving No Quarterly Contingent Coupons and Sustaining a Significant Loss on Your Investment Than If the Notes Were Linked to Just One Underlying ETF

The risk that you will not receive any quarterly contingent coupons, or that you will suffer a significant loss on your investment, is greater if you invest in the notes as opposed to substantially similar notes that are linked to the performance of just one underlying ETF. With two underlying ETFs, it is more likely that at least one underlying ETF will close below its coupon barrier on any coupon determination date, or below its downside threshold on the determination date, than if the notes were linked to only one underlying ETF. Therefore, it is more likely that you will not receive any quarterly contingent coupons and that you will suffer a significant loss on your investment.

Movements in the values of the underlying ETFs may be correlated or uncorrelated at different times during the term of the notes and, if there is correlation, such correlation may be positive (the underlying ETFs move in the same direction) or negative (the underlying ETFs move in reverse directions). You should not take the historical correlation (or lack thereof) of the underlying ETFs as an indication of the future correlation, if any, of the underlying ETFs. Such correlation could have an adverse effect on your return on the notes. For example, if the underlying ETFs are negatively correlated on a coupon determination date or the determination date, as applicable, and the price of one underlying ETF increases, it is likely that the other underlying ETFs will decrease and such decrease could cause one or both of the underlying ETFs to close below its coupon barrier on a coupon determination date or below its downside threshold on the determination date. In addition, although the correlation of the underlying ETFs’ performance may change over the term of the notes, the contingent coupon is determined, in part, based on the correlation of the underlying ETFs' performance at the time when the terms of the notes are finalized. As discussed below in “A Higher Contingent Coupon, a Lower Coupon Barrier and/or a Lower Downside Threshold May Reflect Greater Expected Volatility of the Underlying ETFs, and Greater Expected Volatility Generally Indicates An Increased Risk of Declines in the Prices of the Underlying ETFs and, Potentially, a Significant Loss at Maturity”, higher contingent coupons indicate a greater potential for missed contingent coupons and for a loss on your investment at maturity, which are risks generally associated with underlying ETFs that have lower correlation. In addition, other factors and inputs other than correlation may impact how the terms of the notes are set and the performance of the notes.

A Higher Contingent Coupon, a Lower Coupon Barrier and/or a Lower Downside Threshold May Reflect Greater Expected Volatility of the Underlying ETFs, and Greater Expected Volatility Generally Indicates An Increased Risk of Declines in the Prices of the Underlying ETFs and, Potentially, a Significant Loss at Maturity

The economic terms for the notes, including the contingent coupon, the coupon barrier and the downside threshold, are based, in part, on the expected volatility of each underlying ETF at the time the terms of the notes are set. “Volatility” refers to the frequency and magnitude of changes in the prices of the underlying ETFs.

Higher expected volatility with respect to each underlying ETF as of the trade date generally indicates a greater expectation as of that date that (i) the final underlying ETF price of the lesser performing underlying ETF could ultimately be less than its downside threshold on the determination date, which would result in a loss of a significant portion or all of your investment in the notes, or (ii) the closing price of the underlying ETF on any coupon determination date will be less than its coupon barrier, which would result in the nonpayment of the contingent coupon. At the time the terms of the notes are set, higher expected volatility will generally be reflected in a higher contingent coupon, a lower coupon barrier and/or a lower downside threshold, as compared to otherwise comparable notes issued by the same issuer with the same maturity (taking into account any ability of the issuer to redeem the notes prior to maturity) but

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with one or more different underlying ETFs. However, there is no guarantee that the higher contingent coupon, lower coupon barrier or lower downside threshold set for your notes on the trade date will adequately compensate you, from a risk-potential reward perspective, for the greater risk of receiving no contingent coupon on any coupon payment date or of losing some or all of your investment in the notes. 

A relatively higher contingent coupon (as compared to otherwise comparable securities), which would increase the positive return if the closing price of each underlying ETF is greater than or equal to its coupon barrier on a coupon determination date, or a relatively lower coupon barrier, which would increase the amount that an underlying ETF could decrease on a coupon determination date before the notes become ineligible for a particular coupon payment, may generally indicate an increased risk that the price of each underlying ETF will decrease substantially, which would result in the nonpayment of the contingent coupon on some or all of the coupon payment dates.

Similarly, a relatively lower downside threshold (as compared to otherwise comparable securities), which would increase the buffer against the loss of principal, may generally indicate an increased risk that the price of each underlying ETF will decrease substantially.  This would result in a significant loss at maturity if the final underlying ETF price of at least one underlying ETF is less than its downside threshold.  Further, a relatively lower downside threshold may not indicate that the notes have a greater likelihood of a return of principal at maturity based on the performance of each underlying ETF.

You should not take the historical volatility of any underlying ETF as an indication of its future volatility. You should be willing to accept the downside market risk of each underlying ETF and the potential to not receive some coupons and to lose a significant portion or all of your investment in the notes.

Your Notes Are Subject to Automatic Redemption

We will automatically call and redeem all, but not part, of your notes on a call payment date, if, as measured on any call observation date, the closing price of each underlying ETF is greater than or equal to its initial underlying ETF price. Therefore, the term for your notes may be reduced to approximately six months after the original issue date and you will not receive any further payments on the notes since your notes will no longer be outstanding. You may not be able to reinvest the proceeds from an investment in the notes at a comparable return for a similar level of risk in the event the notes are called prior to maturity. For the avoidance of doubt, if your notes are automatically called, no discounts, commissions or fees described herein will be rebated or reduced.

If the notes remain outstanding following any given call observation date, it means that at least one of the underlying ETFs has closed below its initial underlying ETF price on each prior call observation date. The longer the notes are outstanding from the trade date, the less time remains during which one or both of the underlying ETFs will have an opportunity to increase to or above its initial underlying ETF price to be automatically called.  The notes will not be automatically called in the event that at least one of the underlying ETFs does not increase to or beyond its initial underlying ETF price.

The Contingent Coupon Does Not Reflect the Actual Performance of the Underlying ETFs from the Trade Date to Any Coupon Determination Date or from Coupon Determination Date to Coupon Determination Date

On any coupon payment date, you will receive a contingent coupon only if the price of each underlying ETF is equal to or above its coupon barrier.  The contingent coupon for each quarterly coupon payment date is different from, and may be less than, a contingent coupon that is based on the performance of any underlying ETF between the trade date and any coupon determination date or between two coupon determination dates.  You will not participate in any appreciation of any underlying ETF.  Accordingly, the contingent coupons, if any, on the notes may be less than the return you could earn on another instrument linked to any underlying ETF that pays contingent coupons based on the performance of such underlying ETF from the trade date to any coupon determination date or from coupon determination date to coupon determination date.  In addition, although both the coupon determination dates and coupon payment dates occur quarterly, there may not be an equal number of days between coupon determination dates or between coupon payment dates, respectively.  However, the way in which the contingent coupon is determined will not vary based on the actual number of days between coupon determination dates or

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between coupon payment dates.

The Cash Settlement Amount Will Be Based Solely on the Lesser Performing Underlying ETF

If the notes are not automatically called, the cash settlement amount will be based on the lesser performing underlying ETF without regard to the performance of the other underlying ETFs. As a result, you could lose all or some of your initial investment if the lesser performing underlying ETF return is negative, even if there is an increase in the price of the other underlying ETFs.  This could be the case even if the other underlying ETF increased by an amount greater than the decrease in the lesser performing underlying ETF.

You Are Exposed to the Market Risk of Each Underlying ETF

Your return on the notes will be contingent upon the independent performance of each of the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust and the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF. Unlike an instrument with a return linked to a basket of underlying assets, in which risk is mitigated and diversified among all of the components of the basket, you will be fully exposed to the risks related to each underlying ETF. Poor performance by either of the underlying ETFs over the term of the notes may negatively affect your return and will not be offset or mitigated by positive performance by the other underlying ETFs.

For the notes to be automatically called, each underlying ETF must close at or above its initial underlying ETF price on a call observation date. To receive any contingent coupon payment, each underlying ETF must close at or above its coupon barrier on a coupon determination date. To receive any contingent repayment of principal at maturity, each underlying ETF must close at or above its downside threshold on the determination date. In addition, if not automatically called prior to maturity, you will incur a loss proportionate to the negative return of the lesser performing underlying ETF even if the other underlying ETFs appreciate during the term of the notes. Accordingly, your investment is subject to the market risk of each underlying ETF.

Movements in the values of the underlying ETFs may be correlated or uncorrelated at different times during the term of the notes.  Any such correlation may be positive (the underlying ETFs move in the same direction) or negative (the underlying ETFs move in reverse directions), and such correlation (or lack thereof) could have an adverse effect on your return on the notes.  If the performance of the underlying ETFs is not correlated or is negatively correlated, the risk of not receiving a contingent coupon and of incurring a significant loss of principal at maturity generally increases.  

For example, the likelihood that one of the underlying ETFs will close below its coupon barrier on a coupon determination date and/or its downside threshold on the determination date, generally will increase when the movements in the values of the underlying ETFs are negatively correlated. This results in a greater likelihood that a contingent coupon will not be paid during the term of the notes and/or that there will be a significant loss of principal at maturity if the notes are not previously automatically called.

However, even if the underlying ETFs have a higher positive correlation, one or more of those underlying ETFs might close below its coupon barrier on a coupon determination date or its downside threshold on the determination date, as each of the underlying ETFs may decrease in value together.

The contingent coupon and the downside threshold are determined, in part, based on the correlations of the underlying ETFs’ performance at the time when the terms of the notes are set on the trade date. A higher contingent coupon, a lower coupon barrier and/or a lower downside threshold (as compared to otherwise comparable securities) are generally associated with more negative correlation, which reflects a greater likelihood that a contingent coupon will not be paid and that there will be a loss on your investment at maturity.  However, there is no guarantee that the higher contingent coupon, lower coupon barrier or lower downside threshold set for your notes on the trade date will adequately compensate you, from a risk-potential reward perspective, for the greater risk of receiving no contingent coupon on any coupon payment date or of losing some or all of your investment in the notes. 

The correlations referenced in setting the terms of the notes are based on the future expected correlation of the underlying ETFs as determined by us and are not derived from the daily prices of the underlying

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ETFs over the period set forth under “Correlation of the Underlying ETFs.”  Other factors and inputs other than correlation may also impact how the terms of the notes are set and the performance of the notes.

The greater the number of underlying ETFs to which a note is linked, generally the more likely it is that one of the underlying ETFs will close below its coupon barrier or its downside threshold, resulting in a greater likelihood that a contingent coupon will not be paid during the terms of the notes and that there will be a significant loss of principal at maturity.

The Market Value of Your Notes May Be Influenced by Many Unpredictable Factors

When we refer to the market value of your notes, we mean the value that you could receive for your notes if you chose to sell them in the open market before the stated maturity date. A number of factors, many of which are beyond our control and impact the value of bonds and options generally, will influence the market value of your notes, including:

the prices of the underlying ETFs;

the volatility – i.e., the frequency and magnitude of changes – in the closing prices of the underlying ETFs;

the dividend rates of the underlying ETF stocks;

economic, financial, regulatory, political, military, public health and other events that affect stock markets generally and the underlying ETF stocks, and which may affect the closing prices of the underlying ETFs;

the actual and expected positive or negative correlation between the underlying ETFs, or the actual or expected absence of any such correlation;

interest rates and yield rates in the market;

the time remaining until your notes mature; and

our creditworthiness and the creditworthiness of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., whether actual or perceived, and including actual or anticipated upgrades or downgrades in our credit ratings or the credit ratings of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. or changes in other credit measures.

These factors, and many other factors, will influence the price you will receive if you sell your notes before maturity, including the price you may receive for your notes in any market making transaction. If you sell your notes before maturity, you may receive less than the face amount of your notes or the amount you may receive upon an automatic call or, if the notes are not automatically called, the amount you may receive at maturity.

You cannot predict the future performance of the underlying ETFs based on their historical performance. The actual performance of the underlying ETFs over the life of the offered notes, the cash settlement amount paid on a call payment date or the stated maturity date, as the case may be, as well as the contingent coupon payable, if any, on each coupon payment date, may bear little or no relation to the historical closing prices of the underlying ETFs or to the hypothetical examples shown elsewhere in this prospectus supplement.

Your Notes May Not Have an Active Trading Market

Your notes will not be listed or displayed on any securities exchange or included in any interdealer market quotation system, and there may be little or no secondary market for your notes. Even if a secondary market for your notes develops, it may not provide significant liquidity and we expect that transaction costs in any secondary market would be high. As a result, the difference between bid and asked prices for your notes in any secondary market could be substantial.


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If You Purchase Your Notes at a Premium to Face Amount, the Return on Your Investment Will Be Lower Than the Return on Notes Purchased at Face Amount and the Impact of Certain Key Terms of the Notes Will Be Negatively Affected

The cash settlement amount you will be paid for your notes on the stated maturity date, if any, or the amount you will be paid on a call payment date will not be adjusted based on the issue price you pay for the notes. If you purchase notes at a price that differs from the face amount of the notes, then the return on your investment in such notes held to a call payment date or the stated maturity date will differ from, and may be substantially less than, the return on notes purchased at face amount. If you purchase your notes at a premium to face amount and hold them to a call payment date or the stated maturity date, the return on your investment in the notes will be lower than it would have been had you purchased the notes at face amount or a discount to face amount.

The Policies of the Investment Advisor or Trustee of the Underlying ETFs, State Street Global Advisors Trust Company, and the Sponsor of the Underlying Indices, S&P, Could Affect the Cash Settlement Amount If the Notes Are Automatically Called on any Call Observation Date, the Cash Settlement Amount on the Stated Maturity Date or the Market Value of Your Notes

The investment advisor of the underlying ETFs, SSGA Funds Management (“SSGA”), may from time to time be called upon to make certain policy decisions or judgments with respect to the implementation of policies of the investment advisor concerning the calculation of the net asset value of the underlying ETFs, additions, deletions or substitutions of securities in the underlying ETFs and the manner in which changes affecting the underlying index for any underlying ETF is reflected in that underlying ETF that could affect the market price of the shares of that underlying ETF, and therefore, the amount payable on your notes on a coupon payment date or the stated maturity date. The amount payable on your notes and their market value could also be affected if the investment advisor changes these policies, for example, by changing the manner in which it calculates the net asset value of an underlying ETF, or if the investment advisor discontinues or suspends calculation or publication of the net asset value of an underlying ETF, in which case it may become difficult or inappropriate to determine the market value of your notes.

If events such as these occur, the calculation agent - which initially will be GS & Co. - may determine the closing price of the underlying ETFs on a coupon observation date or the determination date - and thus the amount payable on a coupon payment date or the stated maturity date, if any - in a manner, in its sole discretion, it considers appropriate. We describe the discretion that the calculation agent will have in determining the closing price of the underlying ETFs on a coupon observation date or the determination date and the amount payable on your notes more fully under “Specific Terms of Your Notes - Discontinuance or Modification of an Underlying ETF” on page S-33.

In addition, SSGA, the underlying ETF sponsor of the underlying indices owns each underlying index and is responsible for the design and maintenance of the underlying indices. The policies of the underlying index sponsor concerning the calculation of a particular underlying index, including decisions regarding the addition, deletion or substitution of the equity securities included in that underlying index, could affect the level of that underlying index and, consequently, could affect the market prices of shares of the related underlying ETF and, therefore, the amount payable on your notes and their market value.

There is No Assurance That an Active Trading Market Will Continue for the Underlying ETFs or That There Will Be Liquidity in Any Such Trading Market; Further, the Underlying ETFs are Subject to Management Risks, Securities Lending Risks and Custody Risks

Although the shares of the underlying ETFs are listed for trading on NYSE Arca, Inc. (the “NYSE Arca”) and a number of similar products have been traded on the NYSE Arca or other securities exchanges for varying periods of time, there is no assurance that an active trading market will continue for the shares of any underlying ETF or that there will be liquidity in the trading market.

In addition, each underlying ETF is subject to management risk, which is the risk that the underlying ETF investment advisor’s or trustee’s, as applicable, investment strategy, the implementation of which is subject to a number of constraints, may not produce the intended results. For example, in the case of the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF, the underlying ETF investment advisor for each ETF may select up to 20% of such underlying ETF’s assets to be invested in shares of equity securities that are not included

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in its underlying index.  No underlying ETF is actively managed and each underlying ETF may be affected by a general decline in market segments relating to its underlying index.  The underlying ETF investment advisor or trustee, as applicable, invest in securities included in, or representative of, the underlying index regardless of their investment merits.  The underlying ETF investment advisor or trustee, as applicable, do not attempt to take defensive positions in declining markets.

In addition, the underlying ETFs are subject to custody risk, which refers to the risks in the process of clearing and settling trades and to the holding of securities by local banks, agents and depositories.  Low trading volumes and volatile prices in less developed markets make trades harder to complete and settle, and governments or trade groups may compel local agents to hold securities in designated depositories that are not subject to independent evaluation. The less developed a country’s securities market is, the greater the likelihood of custody problems.

Further, the underlying ETFs are subject to listing standards adopted by NYSE Arca. There can be no assurance that the underlying ETFs will continue to meet the applicable listing requirements, or that the underlying ETFs will not be delisted.

The SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF is Concentrated in Banking Companies and Does Not Provide Diversified Exposure

The SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF is not diversified. The underlying ETF’s assets will be concentrated in banking companies, which means the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF is more likely to be adversely affected by any negative performance of banking companies than an underlying ETF that has more diversified holdings across a number of sectors. Stock prices for banking companies are affected by extensive governmental regulation which may limit both the amounts and types of loans and other financial commitments those companies can make, the interest rates and fees they can charge and the amount of capital they must maintain. Profitability for banking companies is largely dependent on the availability and cost of capital funds and can fluctuate significantly when interest rates change. Credit losses resulting from financial difficulties of borrowers can negatively impact banking companies. Banks may also be subject to severe price competition, as competition is high among banking companies and failure to maintain or increase market share may result in lost market value. In addition, changes in governmental regulation and oversight of financial institutions such as banks and broker-dealers may have an adverse effect on the financial condition of a financial institution and changes in the creditworthiness of financial institutions may adversely affect the values of instruments of issuers in financial industries.

Each Underlying ETF and its Underlying Index are Different and the Performance of Each Underlying ETF May Not Correlate With the Performance of its Underlying Index

Each underlying ETF may not hold all or substantially all of the equity securities included in its underlying index and may hold securities or assets not included in its underlying index. For example, the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF uses a representative sampling strategy to attempt to track the performance of its underlying index. Therefore, while the performance of the underlying ETF is generally linked to the performance of the underlying index, the performance of the underlying ETF is also linked in part to shares of equity securities not included in its underlying index and to the performance of other assets, such as futures contracts, options and swaps, as well as cash and cash equivalents, including shares of money market funds affiliated with its underlying ETF investment advisor or trustee, as applicable.

Imperfect correlation between an underlying ETF’s portfolio securities and those in its underlying index, rounding of prices, changes to its underlying index and regulatory requirements may cause tracking error, which is the divergence of an underlying ETF’s performance from that of its underlying index.

In addition, the performance of each underlying ETF will reflect additional transaction costs and fees that are not included in the calculation of its underlying index and this may increase the tracking error of each underlying ETF. Also, corporate actions with respect to the sample of equity securities (such as mergers and spin-offs) may impact the performance differential between each underlying ETF and its underlying index. Finally, because the shares of each underlying ETF are traded on the NYSE Arca and are subject to market supply and investor demand, the market value of one share of an underlying ETF may differ from the net asset value per share of that underlying ETF.

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For all of the foregoing reasons, the performance of any underlying ETF may not correlate with the performance of its underlying index. The return on the notes will not be the same as investing directly in each underlying ETF or in each underlying index or in any of the respective underlying ETF stocks or in any of the respective underlying index stocks, and will not be the same as investing in a debt security with payments linked to the performance of each underlying index.

If the Prices of the Underlying ETFs Change, the Market Value of Your Notes May Not Change in the Same Manner

The price of your notes may move differently than the performance of the underlying ETFs. Changes in the prices of the underlying ETFs may not result in a comparable change in the market value of your notes. Even if the closing price of each underlying ETF is greater than or equal to its coupon barrier but less than 100% of its initial underlying ETF price during some portion of the life of the notes, the market value of your notes may not reflect this. We discuss some of the reasons for this disparity under “— The Market Value of Your Notes May Be Influenced by Many Unpredictable Factors” above.

Hedging Activities by Goldman Sachs or Our Distributors May Negatively Impact Investors in the Notes and Cause Our Interests and Those of Our Clients and Counterparties to be Contrary to Those of Investors in the Notes

Goldman Sachs has hedged or expects to hedge our obligations under the notes by purchasing listed or over-the-counter options, futures and/or other instruments linked to the underlying ETFs or the underlying ETF stocks.  Goldman Sachs also expects to adjust the hedge by, among other things, purchasing or selling any of the foregoing, and perhaps other instruments linked to the underlying ETFs or the underlying ETF stocks, at any time and from time to time, and to unwind the hedge by selling any of the foregoing on or before the determination date for your notes.  Alternatively, Goldman Sachs may hedge all or part of our obligations under the notes with unaffiliated distributors of the notes which we expect will undertake similar market activity.   Goldman Sachs may also enter into, adjust and unwind hedging transactions relating to other ETF-linked notes whose returns are linked to changes in the prices of the underlying ETFs or the underlying ETF stocks, as applicable.  

In addition to entering into such transactions itself, or distributors entering into such transactions, Goldman Sachs may structure such transactions for its clients or counterparties, or otherwise advise or assist clients or counterparties in entering into such transactions.  These activities may be undertaken to achieve a variety of objectives, including:  permitting other purchasers of the notes or other securities to hedge their investment in whole or in part; facilitating transactions for other clients or counterparties that may have business objectives or investment strategies that are inconsistent with or contrary to those of investors in the notes; hedging the exposure of Goldman Sachs to the notes including any interest in the notes that it reacquires or retains as part of the offering process, through its market-making activities or otherwise; enabling Goldman Sachs to comply with its internal risk limits or otherwise manage firmwide, business unit or product risk; and/or enabling Goldman Sachs to take directional views as to relevant markets on behalf of itself or its clients or counterparties that are inconsistent with or contrary to the views and objectives of the investors in the notes.  

Any of these hedging or other activities may adversely affect the prices of the underlying ETFs — directly or indirectly by affecting the price of the underlying ETF stocks — and therefore the market value of your notes and the amount we will pay on your notes, if any.  In addition, you should expect that these transactions will cause Goldman Sachs or its clients, counterparties or distributors to have economic interests and incentives that do not align with, and that may be directly contrary to, those of an investor in the notes.  Neither Goldman Sachs nor any distributor will have any obligation to take, refrain from taking or cease taking any action with respect to these transactions based on the potential effect on an investor in the notes, and may receive substantial returns on hedging or other activities while the value of your notes declines.  In addition, if the distributor from which you purchase notes is to conduct hedging activities in connection with the notes, that distributor may otherwise profit in connection with such hedging activities and such profit, if any, will be in addition to the compensation that the distributor receives for the sale of the notes to you.  You should be aware that the potential to earn fees in connection with hedging activities may create a further incentive for the distributor to sell the notes to you in addition to the compensation they would receive for the sale of the notes. 

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Goldman Sachs’ Trading and Investment Activities for its Own Account or for its Clients, Could Negatively Impact Investors in the Notes

Goldman Sachs is a global investment banking, securities and investment management firm that provides a wide range of financial services to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and individuals.  As such, it acts as an investor, investment banker, research provider, investment manager, investment advisor, market maker, trader, prime broker and lender.  In those and other capacities, Goldman Sachs purchases, sells or holds a broad array of investments, actively trades securities, derivatives, loans, commodities, currencies, credit default swaps, indices, baskets and other financial instruments and products for its own account or for the accounts of its customers, and will have other direct or indirect interests, in the global fixed income, currency, commodity, equity, bank loan and other markets.  Any of Goldman Sachs’ financial market activities may, individually or in the aggregate, have an adverse effect on the market for your notes, and you should expect that the interests of Goldman Sachs or its clients or counterparties will at times be adverse to those of investors in the notes.

Goldman Sachs regularly offers a wide array of securities, financial instruments and other products into the marketplace, including existing or new products that are similar to your notes, or similar or linked to the underlying ETFs or underlying ETF stocks.  Investors in the notes should expect that Goldman Sachs will offer securities, financial instruments, and other products that will compete with the notes for liquidity, research coverage or otherwise.

Goldman Sachs’ Market-Making Activities Could Negatively Impact Investors in the Notes

Goldman Sachs actively makes markets in and trades financial instruments for its own account and for the accounts of customers.  These financial instruments include debt and equity securities, currencies, commodities, bank loans, indices, baskets and other products.  Goldman Sachs’ activities include, among other things, executing large block trades and taking long and short positions directly and indirectly, through derivative instruments or otherwise.  The securities and instruments in which Goldman Sachs takes positions, or expects to take positions, include securities and instruments of an underlying ETF or underlying ETF stocks, securities and instruments similar to or linked to the foregoing or the currencies in which they are denominated.  Market making is an activity where Goldman Sachs buys and sells on behalf of customers, or for its own account, to satisfy the expected demand of customers.  By its nature, market making involves facilitating transactions among market participants that have differing views of securities and instruments.  As a result, you should expect that Goldman Sachs will take positions that are inconsistent with, or adverse to, the investment objectives of investors in the notes.

If Goldman Sachs becomes a holder of any securities of the underlying ETFs or underlying ETF stocks in its capacity as a market-maker or otherwise, any actions that it takes in its capacity as securityholder, including voting or provision of consents, will not necessarily be aligned with, and may be inconsistent with, the interests of investors in the notes.

You Should Expect That Goldman Sachs Personnel Will Take Research Positions, or Otherwise Make Recommendations, Provide Investment Advice or Market Color or Encourage Trading Strategies That Might Negatively Impact Investors in the Notes

Goldman Sachs and its personnel, including its sales and trading, investment research and investment management personnel, regularly make investment recommendations, provide market color or trading ideas, or publish or express independent views in respect of a wide range of markets, issuers, securities and instruments.  They regularly implement, or recommend to clients that they implement, various investment strategies relating to these markets, issuers, securities and instruments.  These strategies include, for example, buying or selling credit protection against a default or other event involving an issuer or financial instrument.  Any of these recommendations and views may be negative with respect to the underlying ETFs or underlying ETF stocks or other securities or instruments similar to or linked to the foregoing or result in trading strategies that have a negative impact on the market for any such securities or instruments, particularly in illiquid markets.  In addition, you should expect that personnel in the trading and investing businesses of Goldman Sachs will have or develop independent views of the underlying ETFs or underlying ETF stocks, the relevant industry or other market trends, which may not be aligned with the views and objectives of investors in the notes.

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Goldman Sachs Regularly Provides Services to, or Otherwise Has Business Relationships with, a Broad Client Base, Which May Include the Investment Advisor or Trustee, As Applicable, of an Underlying ETF or the Issuers of the Underlying ETF Stocks or Other Entities That Are Involved in the Transaction

Goldman Sachs regularly provides financial advisory, investment advisory and transactional services to a substantial and diversified client base, and you should assume that Goldman Sachs will, at present or in the future, provide such services or otherwise engage in transactions with, among others, the investment advisor or trustee, as applicable, of the underlying ETFs or the issuers of the underlying ETF stocks, or transact in securities or instruments or with parties that are directly or indirectly related to the foregoing.  These services could include making loans to or equity investments in those companies, providing financial advisory or other investment banking services, or issuing research reports.  You should expect that Goldman Sachs, in providing such services, engaging in such transactions, or acting for its own account, may take actions that have direct or indirect effects on the underlying ETFs or underlying ETF stocks, as applicable, and that such actions could be adverse to the interests of investors in the notes.  In addition, in connection with these activities, certain Goldman Sachs personnel may have access to confidential material non-public information about these parties that would not be disclosed to Goldman Sachs employees that were not working on such transactions as Goldman Sachs has established internal information barriers that are designed to preserve the confidentiality of non-public information.  Therefore, any such confidential material non-public information would not be shared with Goldman Sachs employees involved in structuring, selling or making markets in the notes or with investors in the notes.  

In this offering, as well as in all other circumstances in which Goldman Sachs receives any fees or other compensation in any form relating to services provided to or transactions with any other party, no accounting, offset or payment in respect of the notes will be required or made; Goldman Sachs will be entitled to retain all such fees and other amounts, and no fees or other compensation payable by any party or indirectly by holders of the notes will be reduced by reason of receipt by Goldman Sachs of any such other fees or other amounts.

The Offering of the Notes May Reduce an Existing Exposure of Goldman Sachs or Facilitate a Transaction or Position That Serves the Objectives of Goldman Sachs or Other Parties

A completed offering may reduce Goldman Sachs’ existing exposure to the underlying ETFs or underlying ETF stocks, securities and instruments similar to or linked to the foregoing or the currencies in which they are denominated, including exposure gained through hedging transactions in anticipation of this offering.  An offering of notes will effectively transfer a portion of Goldman Sachs’ exposure (and indirectly transfer the exposure of Goldman Sachs’ hedging or other counterparties) to investors in the notes.

The terms of the offering (including the selection of the underlying ETFs or underlying ETF stocks, and the establishment of other transaction terms) may have been selected in order to serve the investment or other objectives of Goldman Sachs or another client or counterparty of Goldman Sachs.  In such a case, Goldman Sachs would typically receive the input of other parties that are involved in or otherwise have an interest in the offering, transactions hedged by the offering, or related transactions.  The incentives of these other parties would normally differ from and in many cases be contrary to those of investors in the notes.

Other Investors in the Notes May Not Have the Same Interests as You

Other investors in the notes are not required to take into account the interests of any other investor in exercising remedies or voting or other rights in their capacity as securityholders or in making requests or recommendations to Goldman Sachs as to the establishment of other transaction terms.  The interests of other investors may, in some circumstances, be adverse to your interests.  For example, certain investors may take short positions (directly or indirectly through derivative transactions) on assets that are the same or similar to your notes, underlying ETF, underlying ETF stocks or other similar securities, which may adversely impact the market for or value of your notes.

The Return on Your Notes Will Not Reflect Any Dividends Paid on the Underlying ETFs or the Underlying ETF Stocks

The return on your notes will not reflect the return you would realize if you actually owned the underlying ETFs and received the dividends paid on such underlying ETFs.  You will not receive any dividends that

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may be paid on any of the underlying ETF stocks by the underlying ETF stock issuers or the shares of the underlying ETFs.  See “— You Have No Shareholder Rights or Rights to Receive Any Shares of an Underlying ETF or Any ETF Stock” below for additional information.

You Have No Shareholder Rights or Rights to Receive Any Shares of the Underlying ETFs or Any Underlying ETF Stock

Investing in your notes will not make you a holder of any shares of the underlying ETFs or any underlying ETF stocks.  Neither you nor any other holder or owner of your notes will have any rights with respect to the underlying ETFs or the underlying ETF stocks, including any voting rights, any right to receive dividends or other distributions, any rights to make a claim against the underlying ETFs or the underlying ETF stocks or any other rights of a holder of any shares of the underlying ETFs or the underlying ETF stocks.  Your notes will be paid in cash, as will any contingent coupon payments, and you will have no right to receive delivery of any shares of the underlying ETFs or any underlying ETF stocks.

Past Underlying ETF Performance is No Guide to Future Performance

The actual performance of the underlying ETFs over the life of the notes, as well as the amount payable at maturity, if any, may bear little relation to the historical closing prices of the underlying ETFs or to the hypothetical return examples set forth elsewhere in this prospectus supplement. We cannot predict the future performance of the underlying ETFs.

As Calculation Agent, GS&Co. Will Have the Authority to Make Determinations that Could Affect the Value of Your Notes

As calculation agent for your notes, GS&Co. will have discretion in making certain determinations that affect your notes, including determining: the closing prices of the underlying ETFs on any coupon determination date, which we will use to determine the contingent coupon, if any, we will pay on any applicable coupon payment date; whether your notes will be automatically called; the final underlying ETF price of the lesser performing underlying ETF on the determination date, which we will use to determine the amount we must pay on the stated maturity date; anti-dilution adjustments; whether to postpone a coupon determination date or the determination date because of a market disruption event or a non-trading day; the coupon determination dates; the coupon payment dates; the call observation dates; the call payment dates and the stated maturity date. The calculation agent also has discretion in making certain adjustments relating to a discontinuation or modification of the underlying ETFs.  See “Specific Terms of Your Notes — Discontinuance or Modification of an Underlying ETF” below. The exercise of this discretion by GS&Co. could adversely affect the value of your notes and may present GS&Co. with a conflict of interest. We may change the calculation agent at any time without notice and GS&Co. may resign as calculation agent at any time upon 60 days' written notice to us.

You Will Have Limited Anti-dilution Protection

GS&Co., as calculation agent for your notes, may adjust the closing prices of the ETFs for certain events that may affect the ETFs, but only in the situations we describe in “Specific Terms of Your Notes — Anti-dilution Adjustments”. The calculation agent will not be required to make an adjustment for every event that may affect the ETFs and will have broad discretion to determine whether and to what extent an adjustment is required.

Except to the Extent GS&Co. and One or More of Our Other Affiliates Act as Authorized Participants in the Distribution of, and, at Any Time, May Hold, Shares of the ETFs, There Is No Affiliation Between an ETF’s Investment Advisor or Trustee and Us

GS&Co. and one or more of our other affiliates may act, from time to time, as authorized participants in the distribution of shares of the ETF, and, at any time, may hold shares of the ETFs. We are not otherwise affiliated with the ETF’s investment advisor or trustee, as applicable, or the ETF stock issuers. We or our affiliates may currently or from time to time in the future engage in business with an ETF’s investment advisor or trustee, as applicable, or the issuers of the ETF stocks. Neither we nor any of our affiliates have participated in the preparation of any publicly available information or made any “due diligence” investigation or inquiry with respect to the ETF or the ETF stock issuers. You, as an investor in your notes, should make your own investigation into the ETF and the ETF stock issuers.

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Neither the investment advisor or trustee of an ETF, as applicable, nor any ETF stock issuer are involved in this offering of your notes in any way and none of them have any obligation of any sort with respect to your notes. Neither the investment advisor or trustee of an ETF, as applicable, nor any such issuer have any obligation to take your interests into consideration for any reason, including when taking any corporate actions that might affect the value of your notes.

The Calculation Agent Can Postpone a Coupon Determination Date or the Determination Date, as the Case May Be, If a Market Disruption Event or a Non-Trading Day Occurs or is Continuing

If the calculation agent determines that, on a date that would otherwise be a coupon determination date or the determination date, a market disruption event has occurred or is continuing with respect to any underlying ETF or that day is not a trading day with respect to any underlying ETF, such coupon determination date or the determination date will be postponed as provided under “Specific Terms of Your Notes — Coupon Determination Dates” and “Specific Terms of Your Notes — Determination Date”, as applicable.   In no case, however, will the coupon determination date or the determination date be postponed to a date later than the corresponding originally scheduled coupon payment date or the originally scheduled stated maturity date, as applicable, or if the corresponding originally scheduled coupon payment date or the originally scheduled stated maturity date is not a business day, later than the first business day after the corresponding originally scheduled coupon payment date or the originally scheduled stated maturity date.  Moreover, if a coupon determination date or the determination date, as applicable, is postponed to the last possible day, but the market disruption event has not ceased by that day or that day is not a trading day, that day will nevertheless be the coupon determination date or the determination date, as applicable, for the corresponding coupon payment date or stated maturity date.  In such a case, the calculation agent will determine the applicable closing prices or final underlying ETF prices for such coupon determination date or the determination date based on the procedures described under “Specific Terms of Your Notes — Consequences of a Market Disruption Event or a Non-Trading Day” below.

Certain Considerations for Insurance Companies and Employee Benefit Plans

Any insurance company or fiduciary of a pension plan or other employee benefit plan that is subject to the prohibited transaction rules of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, which we call “ERISA”, or the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, including an IRA or a Keogh plan (or a governmental plan to which similar prohibitions apply), and that is considering purchasing the offered notes with the assets of the insurance company or the assets of such a plan, should consult with its counsel regarding whether the purchase or holding of the offered notes could become a “prohibited transaction” under ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code or any substantially similar prohibition in light of the representations a purchaser or holder in any of the above categories is deemed to make by purchasing and holding the offered notes. This is discussed in more detail under “Employee Retirement Income Security Act” below.

We May Sell an Additional Aggregate Face Amount of the Notes at a Different Issue Price

At our sole option, we may decide to sell an additional aggregate face amount of the notes subsequent to the date of this prospectus supplement. The issue price of the notes in the subsequent sale may differ substantially (higher or lower) from the issue price you paid as provided on the cover of this prospectus supplement.

The Tax Consequences of an Investment in Your Notes Are Uncertain

The tax consequences of an investment in your notes are uncertain, both as to the timing and character of any inclusion in income in respect of your notes.

The Internal Revenue Service announced on December 7, 2007 that it is considering issuing guidance regarding the tax treatment of an instrument such as your notes, and any such guidance could adversely affect the value and the tax treatment of your notes. Among other things, the Internal Revenue Service may decide to require the holders to accrue ordinary income on a current basis and recognize ordinary income on payment at maturity, and could subject non-U.S. investors to withholding tax. Furthermore, in 2007, legislation was introduced in Congress that, if enacted, would have required holders that acquired instruments such as your notes after the bill was enacted to accrue interest income over the term of such instruments even though there may be no interest payments over the term of such instruments.  It is not

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possible to predict whether a similar or identical bill will be enacted in the future, or whether any such bill would affect the tax treatment of your notes.  We describe these developments in more detail under “Supplemental Discussion of U.S. Federal Income Tax Consequences – United States Holders – Possible Change in Law” below. You should consult your tax advisor about this matter. Except to the extent otherwise provided by law, GS Finance Corp. intends to continue treating the notes for U.S. federal income tax purposes in accordance with the treatment described under “Supplemental Discussion of U.S. Federal Income Tax Consequences” on page S-60 below unless and until such time as Congress, the Treasury Department or the Internal Revenue Service determine that some other treatment is more appropriate.  Please also consult your tax advisor concerning the U.S. federal income tax and any other applicable tax consequences to you of owning your notes in your particular circumstances.

Your Notes May Be Subject to the Constructive Ownership Rules

There exists a risk that the constructive ownership rules of Section 1260 of the Internal Revenue Code could apply to your notes. If your notes were subject to the constructive ownership rules, then any long-term capital gain that you realize upon the sale, exchange, redemption or maturity of your notes would be re-characterized as ordinary income (and you would be subject to an interest charge on deferred tax liability with respect to such re-characterized capital gain) to the extent that such capital gain exceeds the amount of “net underlying long-term capital gain” (as defined in Section 1260 of the Internal Revenue Code). Because the application of the constructive ownership rules is unclear you are strongly urged to consult your tax advisor with respect to the possible application of the constructive ownership rules to your investment in the notes.

Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) Withholding May Apply to Payments on Your Notes, Including as a Result of the Failure of the Bank or Broker Through Which You Hold the Notes to Provide Information to Tax Authorities

Please see the discussion under “United States Taxation — Taxation of Debt Securities — Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) Withholding” in the accompanying prospectus for a description of the applicability of FATCA to payments made on your notes.

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Specific Terms of Your Notes

We refer to the notes we are offering by this prospectus supplement as the “offered notes” or the “notes”. Please note that in this prospectus supplement, references to “GS Finance Corp.”, “we”, “our” and “us” mean only GS Finance Corp. and do not include its subsidiaries or affiliates, references to “The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.”, our parent company, mean only The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. and do not include its subsidiaries or affiliates and references to “Goldman Sachs” mean The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. together with its consolidated subsidiaries and affiliates, including us. Also, references to the “accompanying prospectus” mean the accompanying prospectus, dated July 1, 2020, and  references to the “accompanying prospectus supplement” mean the accompanying prospectus supplement, dated July 1, 2020, for Medium-Term Notes, Series F, in each case of GS Finance Corp. and The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.  Please note that in this section entitled “Specific Terms of Your Notes”, references to “holders” mean those who own notes registered in their own names, on the books that we or the trustee maintain for this purpose, and not those who own beneficial interests in notes registered in street name or in notes issued in book-entry form through The Depository Trust Company. Please review the special considerations that apply to owners of beneficial interests in the accompanying prospectus, under “Legal Ownership and Book-Entry Issuance”.

 

 

The offered notes are part of a series of debt securities, entitled “Medium-Term Notes, Series F”, that we may issue under the indenture from time to time as described in the accompanying prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus. The offered notes are also “indexed debt securities”, as defined in the accompanying prospectus.

This prospectus supplement summarizes specific financial and other terms that apply to the offered notes, including your notes; terms that apply generally to all Series F medium-term notes are described in “Description of Notes We May Offer” in the accompanying prospectus supplement. The terms described here supplement those described in the accompanying prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus and, if the terms described here are inconsistent with those described there, the terms described here are controlling.

In addition to those terms described under “Summary Information” in this prospectus supplement, the following terms will apply to your notes:

Specified currency:

U.S. dollars (“$”)

Form of note:

global form only: yes, at DTC

non-global form available: no

Denominations:  each note registered in the name of a holder must have a face amount of $10 or an integral multiple of $10 in excess thereof

Defeasance applies as follows:

full defeasance: no

covenant defeasance: no

Other terms:

the default amount will be payable on any acceleration of the maturity of your notes as described under “— Special Calculation Provisions” below

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a business day for your notes will not be the same as a business day for our other Series F medium-term notes, as described under “— Special Calculation Provisions” below

a trading day for your notes will be as described under “— Special Calculation Provisions” below

Please note that the information about the settlement or trade date, issue price, discount or commission and net proceeds to GS Finance Corp. on the front cover page or elsewhere in this prospectus supplement relates only to the initial issuance and sale of the offered notes. We may decide to sell additional notes on one or more dates after the date of this prospectus supplement, at issue prices and with underwriting discounts and net proceeds that differ from the amounts set forth on the front cover page or elsewhere in this prospectus supplement.  If you have purchased your notes in a market-making transaction after the initial issuance and sale of the offered notes, any such relevant information about the sale to you will be provided in a separate confirmation of sale.

We describe the terms of your notes in more detail below.

Underlying ETF, Underlying ETF Investment Advisor or Trustee, Underlying Index, Underlying Index Sponsor and Underlying ETF Stocks

In this prospectus supplement, when we refer to an underlying ETF, we mean either the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust or the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF specified on the front cover page, or any successor underlying ETF, as each may be modified, replaced or adjusted from time to time as described under “— Discontinuance or Modification of an Underlying ETF” below.  When we refer to an underlying ETF investment advisor or trustee as of any time, we mean the entity, including any successor advisor or trustee, that manages the underlying ETF. When we refer to the underlying index, we mean the index underlying the ETF. When we refer to an underlying index sponsor as of any time, we mean the entity, including any successor sponsor, that determines and publishes the applicable underlying ETF as then in effect.  When we refer to the underlying ETF stocks of an underlying ETF as of any time, we mean the stocks that comprise the underlying ETF as then in effect, after giving effect to any additions, deletions or substitutions.

Autocall Feature

If, as measured on any call observation date, the closing prices of each underlying ETF is greater than or equal to its initial underlying ETF price, your notes will be automatically called. If your notes are automatically called on any call observation date, on the corresponding call payment date, in addition to the contingent coupon then due, you will receive an amount in cash equal to $10 for each $10 face amount of your notes. No further payments will be made on the notes since your notes will no longer be outstanding. The notes cannot be called if the closing price of at least one underlying ETF is less than its respective initial underlying ETF price on a call observation date.

Payment of a Contingent Coupon

Subject to the autocall feature, on each coupon payment date, for each $10 face amount of your notes, we will pay you an amount in cash equal to:

if the closing price of each underlying ETF on the related coupon determination date is greater than or equal to its coupon barrier, $0.175 (i.e., equal to a return of 7.00% per annum); or

if the closing price of at least one underlying ETF on the related coupon determination date is less than its coupon barrier, $0.00

The coupon barrier is $268.02 with respect to the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust and 40.57 with respect to the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF (in each case, 70.00% of such underlying ETF’s initial underlying ETF price (rounded to the nearest one-hundredth)).

Payment of Principal on Stated Maturity Date

If your notes are not automatically called, for each $10 face amount of your notes, we will pay you on the stated maturity date an amount in cash equal to:

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if the final underlying ETF price of each underlying ETF is greater than or equal to its coupon barrier, $10 plus the final contingent coupon;

if the final underlying ETF price of each underlying ETF is greater than or equal to its downside threshold but the final underlying ETF price of at least one underlying ETF is less than its coupon barrier, $10; or

if the final underlying ETF price of at least one underlying ETF is less than its downside threshold, the sum of (i) $10 plus (ii) the product of (a) the lesser performing underlying ETF return times (b) $10

The downside threshold is $229.73 with respect to the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust and 34.78 with respect to the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF (in each case, 60.00% of such underlying ETF’s initial underlying ETF price (rounded to the nearest one-hundredth)).

With respect to each underlying ETF, the underlying ETF return is calculated by subtracting the initial underlying ETF price from the final underlying ETF price and dividing the result by the initial underlying ETF price, with the quotient expressed as a percentage.

The lesser performing underlying ETF is the underlying ETF with the lowest underlying ETF return.  The lesser performing underlying ETF return is the underlying ETF return of the lesser performing underlying ETF.  

The initial underlying ETF price is $382.88 with respect to the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust and 57.96 with respect to the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF. With respect to each underlying ETF, the calculation agent will determine the final underlying ETF price, which will be the closing price of such underlying ETF on the determination date.  However, the calculation agent will have discretion to adjust the closing price on any call observation date or the determination date or to determine it in a different manner as described under “ — Consequences of a Market Disruption Event or a Non-Trading Day” and “— Discontinuance or Modification of an Underlying ETF” below.

Stated Maturity Date

The stated maturity date is January 25, 2024, unless that day is not a business day, in which case the stated maturity date will be postponed to the next following business day. If the determination date is postponed as described under “— Determination Date” below, the stated maturity date will be postponed by the same number of business day(s) from but excluding the originally scheduled determination date to and including the actual determination date.

Determination Date

The determination date is January 22, 2024, unless the calculation agent determines that, with respect to any underlying ETF, a market disruption event occurs or is continuing on that day or that day is not otherwise a trading day.

In the event the originally scheduled determination date is a non-trading day with respect to any underlying ETF, the determination date will be the first day thereafter that is a trading day for both underlying ETFs (the “first qualified trading day”) provided that no market disruption event occurs or is continuing with respect to an underlying ETF on that day.  If a market disruption event with respect to an underlying ETF occurs or is continuing on the originally scheduled determination date or the first qualified trading day, the determination date will be the first following trading day on which the calculation agent determines that each underlying ETF has had at least one trading day (from and including the originally scheduled determination date or the first qualified trading day, as applicable) on which no market disruption event has occurred or is continuing and the closing price of each underlying ETF will be determined on or prior to the postponed determination date as set forth under “— Consequences of a Market Disruption Event or a Non-Trading Day” below.  (In such case, the determination date may differ from the date on which the price of an underlying ETF is determined for the purpose of the calculations to be performed on the determination date.)  In no event, however, will the determination date be postponed to a date later than the originally scheduled stated maturity date or, if the originally scheduled stated maturity date is not a business day, later than the first business day after the originally scheduled stated maturity date, either due to the occurrence of serial non-trading days or due to the occurrence of one or more market disruption events.  On such last possible determination date, if a market disruption event

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occurs or is continuing with respect to an underlying ETF that has not yet had such a trading day on which no market disruption event has occurred or is continuing or if such last possible day is not a trading day with respect to such underlying ETF, that day will nevertheless be the determination date.

Contingent Coupon and Coupon Payment Dates

The contingent coupons will be calculated and paid as described in this prospectus supplement.

The contingent coupons on the offered notes will be paid on the coupon payment dates (the dates specified in the table under “Summary Information — Key Terms — Coupon payment dates” on page S-5, unless, for any such coupon payment date, that day is not a business day, in which case such coupon payment date will be postponed to the next following business day; if the coupon determination date is postponed as described under “Coupon Determination Dates” below, such coupon payment date will be postponed by the same number of business day(s) from but excluding the applicable originally scheduled coupon determination date to and including the actual coupon determination date).  Although the coupon payment dates occur quarterly, there may not be an equal number of days between coupon payment dates.

Coupon Determination Dates

The coupon determination dates are the dates specified as such in the table under “Summary Information — Key Terms — Coupon payment dates” on S-5, unless the calculation agent determines that, with respect to any underlying ETF, a market disruption event occurs or is continuing on that day or that day is not otherwise a trading day.  In the event the originally scheduled coupon determination date is a non-trading day with respect to any underlying ETF, the coupon determination date will be the first day thereafter that is a trading day for both underlying ETFs (the “first qualified coupon trading day”) provided that no market disruption event occurs or is continuing with respect to an underlying ETF on that day.  If a market disruption event with respect to an underlying ETF occurs or is continuing on the originally scheduled coupon determination date or the first qualified coupon trading day, the coupon determination date will be the first following trading day on which the calculation agent determines that each underlying ETF has had at least one trading day (from and including the originally scheduled coupon determination date or the first qualified coupon trading date, as applicable) on which no market disruption event has occurred or is continuing and the closing price of each underlying ETF for that coupon determination date will be determined on or prior to the postponed coupon determination date as set forth under “— Consequences of a Market Disruption Event or a Non-Trading Day” below.  (In such case, the coupon determination date may differ from the date on which the price of an underlying ETF is determined for the purpose of the calculations to be performed on the coupon determination date.)  In no event, however, will the coupon determination date be postponed to a date later than the originally scheduled coupon payment date or, if the originally scheduled coupon payment date is not a business day, later than the first business day after the originally scheduled coupon payment date, either due to the occurrence of serial non-trading days or due to the occurrence of one or more market disruption events.  On such last possible coupon determination date applicable to the relevant coupon payment date, if a market disruption event occurs or is continuing with respect to an underlying ETF that has not yet had such a trading day on which no market disruption event has occurred or is continuing or if such last possible day is not a trading day with respect to such underlying ETF, that day will nevertheless be the coupon determination date.  Although the coupon determination dates occur quarterly, there may not be an equal number of days between coupon determination dates.

Call Observation Dates

The call observation dates are each coupon determination date commencing July 22, 2021, to the extent the notes are then outstanding, subject to adjustment as described under “Coupon Determination Dates” above.  Although the call observation dates occur quarterly after July 22, 2021, there may not be an equal number of days between call observation dates.

Call Payment Dates

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If your notes are automatically called on any call observation date, on the corresponding call payment date (the coupon payment date immediately after the applicable call observation date, unless, for any such call payment date, that day is not a business day, in which case such call payment date will be postponed to the next following business day; if the call observation date is postponed as described under “Call Observation Dates” above, such call payment date will be postponed by the same number of business day(s) from but excluding the originally scheduled call observation date to and including the actual call observation date) you will receive an amount in cash equal to $10 for each $10 face amount of your notes in addition to the contingent coupon then due, and no further payments will be made on the notes since your notes will no longer be outstanding.

Consequences of a Market Disruption Event or a Non-Trading Day

With respect to any underlying ETF, if a market disruption event occurs or is continuing on a day that would otherwise be a coupon determination date or the determination date, or such day is not a trading day, then such coupon determination date or the determination date will be postponed as described under “— Coupon Determination Dates” or “— Determination Date” above.  If any coupon determination date or the determination date is postponed to the last possible date due to the occurrence of serial non-trading days, the price of each underlying ETF will be the calculation agent’s assessment of such price, in good faith and in its sole discretion, on such last possible postponed coupon determination date or determination date, as applicable.  

If any coupon determination date or the determination date is postponed due to a market disruption event with respect to any underlying ETF, the closing price of each underlying ETF with respect to such coupon determination date or the final underlying ETF price with respect to the determination date, as applicable, will be calculated based on (i) for any underlying ETF that is not affected by a market disruption event on (A) the applicable originally scheduled coupon determination date or the first qualified coupon trading day thereafter (if applicable) or (B) the originally scheduled determination date or the first qualified trading day thereafter (if applicable), the closing price of the underlying ETF on that date, (ii) for any underlying ETF that is affected by a market disruption event on (A) the applicable originally scheduled coupon determination date or the first qualified coupon trading day thereafter (if applicable) or (B) the originally scheduled determination date or the first qualified trading day thereafter (if applicable), the closing price of the underlying ETF on the first following trading day on which no market disruption event exists for such underlying ETF and (iii) the calculation agent’s assessment, in good faith and in its sole discretion, of the price of any underlying ETF on the last possible postponed coupon determination date or determination date, as applicable, with respect to such underlying ETF as to which a market disruption event continues through the last possible postponed coupon determination date or determination date.  As a result, this could result in the closing price on any coupon determination date or final underlying ETF price on the determination date of each underlying ETF being determined on different calendar dates.

For the avoidance of doubt, once the closing price for an underlying ETF is determined for a coupon determination date or determination date, the occurrence of a later market disruption event or non-trading day will not alter such calculation.

Discontinuance or Modification of an Underlying ETF

If an underlying ETF is delisted from the exchange on which the underlying ETF has its primary listing and the underlying ETF investment advisor or trustee, as applicable, or anyone else publishes a substitute underlying ETF that the calculation agent determines is comparable to such underlying ETF and approves as a successor underlying ETF, or if the calculation agent designates a substitute underlying ETF, then the calculation agent will determine the contingent coupon payable, if any, on the relevant coupon payment date or the cash settlement amount on the call payment date or the stated maturity date, as applicable, by reference to the substitute underlying ETF.  We refer to any substitute underlying ETF approved by the calculation agent as a successor underlying ETF.

If the calculation agent determines on a coupon determination date or the determination date, as applicable, that the underlying ETF is delisted or withdrawn from the exchange on which the underlying ETF has its primary listing and there is no successor underlying ETF, the calculation agent will determine

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the contingent coupon or the cash settlement amount, as applicable, on the related coupon payment date or the stated maturity date, as applicable, by a computation methodology that the calculation agent determines will as closely as reasonably possible replicate such underlying ETF.

If the calculation agent determines that an underlying ETF, the underlying ETF stocks comprising such underlying ETF or the method of calculating such underlying ETF is changed at any time in any respect - including any split or reverse split of the underlying ETF, a material change in the investment objective of the underlying ETF and any addition, deletion or substitution and any reweighting or rebalancing of such underlying ETF stocks and whether the change is made by the underlying ETF investment advisor under its existing policies or following a modification of those policies, is due to the publication of a successor underlying ETF, is due to events affecting one or more of the underlying ETF stocks or their issuers or is due to any other reason - then the calculation agent will be permitted (but not required) to make such adjustments in such underlying ETF or the method of its calculation as it believes are appropriate to ensure that the prices of such underlying ETF used to determine the contingent coupon or cash settlement amount, as applicable on the related coupon payment date or the stated maturity date, as applicable, is equitable.

All determinations and adjustments to be made by the calculation agent with respect to an underlying ETF may be made by the calculation agent in its sole discretion.  The calculation agent is not obligated to make any such adjustments.

Anti-dilution Adjustments

The calculation agent will have discretion to adjust the closing price of an underlying ETF if certain events occur (including those described above under “— Discontinuance or Modification of an Underlying ETF”). Exchange traded funds are registered investment companies that are eligible for trading on the exchanges on which they are listed. Generally, exchange traded funds are subject to regulation under the Investment Company Act of 1940 and are restricted in their activities and have dividend requirements. In the event that any event other than a delisting or withdrawal from the relevant exchange occurs, the calculation agent shall determine whether and to what extent an adjustment should be made to the price of the underlying ETF or any other term. The calculation agent shall have no obligation to make an adjustment for any such event.

Limited Events of Default

The only events of default for the notes are (i) payment defaults that continue for a 30 day-grace period and (ii) certain insolvency events. No other breach or default under our senior debt indenture or the notes will result in an event of default for the notes or permit the trustee or holders to accelerate the maturity of the notes - that is, they will not be entitled to declare the face or principal amount of any notes to be immediately due and payable. See “Risks Relating to Regulatory Resolution Strategies and Long-Term Debt Requirements” and “Description of Debt Securities We May Offer — Default, Remedies and Waiver of Default — Securities Issued Under the 2008 GSFC Indenture” in the accompanying prospectus for further details.

Default Amount on Acceleration

If an event of default occurs and the maturity of your notes is accelerated, we will pay the default amount in respect of the principal of your notes at the maturity, instead of the amount payable on the stated maturity date as described earlier. We describe the default amount under “— Special Calculation Provisions” below.

For the purpose of determining whether the holders of our Series F medium-term notes, which include your notes, are entitled to take any action under the indenture, we will treat the outstanding face amount of each of your notes as the outstanding principal amount of that note. Although the terms of your notes differ from those of the other Series F medium-term notes, holders of specified percentages in principal amount of all Series F medium-term notes, together in some cases with other series of our debt securities, will be able to take action affecting all the Series F medium-term notes, including your notes, except with respect to certain Series F medium-term notes if the terms of such notes specify that the holders of specified percentages in principal amount of all of such notes must also consent to such action.

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This action may involve changing some of the terms that apply to the Series F medium-term notes or waiving some of our obligations under the indenture. In addition, certain changes to the indenture and the notes that only affect certain debt securities may be made with the approval of holders of a majority in principal amount of such affected debt securities. We discuss these matters in the accompanying prospectus under “Description of Debt Securities We May Offer — Default, Remedies and Waiver of Default” and “— Modification of the Debt Indentures and Waiver of Covenants.

Manner of Payment

Any payment or delivery on your notes at maturity will be made to an account designated by the holder of your notes and approved by us, or at the office of the trustee in New York City, but only when your notes are surrendered to the trustee at that office. We also may make any payment or delivery in accordance with the applicable procedures of the depositary.

Modified Business Day

As described in the accompanying prospectus, any payment on your notes that would otherwise be due on a day that is not a business day may instead be paid on the next day that is a business day, with the same effect as if paid on the original due date. For your notes, however, the term business day may have a different meaning than it does for other Series F medium-term notes. We discuss this term under “— Special Calculation Provisions” below.

Role of Calculation Agent

The calculation agent in its sole discretion will make all determinations regarding each underlying ETF, the coupon determination dates, the coupon payment dates, the regular record dates, the contingent coupon, if any, on each coupon payment date, each underlying ETF return, the closing prices of the underlying ETFs on each coupon determination date, each final underlying ETF price, the determination date, the call observation dates, call payment dates, business days, trading days, postponement of a coupon payment date, a call payment date or the stated maturity date and the amount of cash payable on your notes at maturity. Absent manifest error, all determinations of the calculation agent will be final and binding on you and us, without any liability on the part of the calculation agent.

Please note that GS&Co., our affiliate, is currently serving as the calculation agent as of the date of this prospectus supplement. We may change the calculation agent for your notes at any time after the date of this prospectus supplement without notice and GS&Co. may resign as calculation agent at any time upon 60 days' written notice to us.

Special Calculation Provisions

Business Day

When we refer to a business day with respect to your notes, we mean a day that is a New York business day as described under “Description of Debt Securities We May Offer — Calculations of Interest on Debt Securities — Business Days” on page 21 in the accompanying prospectus. A day is a scheduled business day if, as of the trade date, such day is scheduled to be a New York business day.

Trading Day

When we refer to a trading day with respect to an underlying ETF, we mean a day on which the exchange on which the underlying ETF has its primary listing is open for trading and the price of one share of the underlying ETF is quoted by the exchange on which such underlying ETF has its primary listing.

Closing Price

When we refer to the closing price of an underlying ETF on any trading day, we mean the closing sale price or last reported sale price, regular way, for such underlying ETF, on a per-share or other unit basis:  

on the principal national securities exchange on which such underlying ETF is listed for trading on that day, or

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if such underlying ETF is not listed on any national securities exchange on that day, on any other U.S. national market system that is the primary market for the trading of such underlying ETF

If an underlying ETF is not listed or traded as described above, then the closing price for such underlying ETF on any day will be the average, as determined by the calculation agent, of the bid prices for such underlying ETF obtained from as many dealers in such underlying ETF selected by the calculation agent as will make those bid prices available to the calculation agent. The number of dealers need not exceed three and may include the calculation agent or any of its or our affiliates.

The closing price of an ETF is subject to adjustment as described under “— Anti-dilution Adjustments” above.

Default Amount

The default amount for your notes on any day (except as provided in the last sentence under “—Default Quotation Period” below), will be an amount in the specified currency for the face amount of your notes, equal to the cost of having a qualified financial institution, of the kind and selected as described below, expressly assume all of our payment and other obligations with respect to your notes as of that day and as if no default or acceleration had occurred, or to undertake other obligations providing substantially equivalent economic value to you with respect to your notes. That cost will equal:

the lowest amount that a qualified financial institution would charge to effect this assumption or undertaking, plus

the reasonable expenses, including reasonable attorneys' fees, incurred by the holder of your notes in preparing any documentation necessary for this assumption or undertaking.

During the default quotation period for your notes, which we describe below, the holder and/or we or the calculation agent may request a qualified financial institution to provide a quotation of the amount it would charge to effect this assumption or undertaking. If either party obtains a quotation, it must notify the other party in writing of the quotation. The amount referred to in the first bullet point above will equal the lowest — or, if there is only one, the only — quotation obtained, and as to which notice is so given, during the default quotation period. With respect to any quotation, however, the party not obtaining the quotation may object, on reasonable and significant grounds, to the assumption or undertaking by the qualified financial institution providing the quotation and notify the other party in writing of those grounds within two business days after the last day of the default quotation period, in which case that quotation will be disregarded in determining the default amount.

Default Quotation Period

The default quotation period is the period beginning on the day the default amount first becomes due and ending on the third business day after that day, unless:

no quotation of the kind referred to above is obtained, or

every quotation of that kind obtained is objected to within five business days after the day the default amount first becomes due.

If either of these two events occurs, the default quotation period will continue until the third business day after the first business day on which prompt notice of a quotation is given as described above. If that quotation is objected to as described above within five business days after that first business day, however, the default quotation period will continue as described in the prior sentence and this sentence.

In any event, if the default quotation period and the subsequent two business day objection period have not ended before the determination date, then the default amount will equal the principal amount of your notes.

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Qualified Financial Institutions

For the purpose of determining the default amount at any time, a qualified financial institution must be a financial institution organized under the laws of any jurisdiction in the United States of America, Europe or Japan, which at that time has outstanding debt obligations with a stated maturity of one year or less from the date of issue and that is, or whose securities are, rated either:

A-1 or higher by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services or any successor, or any other comparable rating then used by that rating agency, or

P-1 or higher by Moody's Investors Service, Inc. or any successor, or any other comparable rating then used by that rating agency.

Market Disruption Event

With respect to any given trading day, any of the following will be a market disruption event with respect to an underlying ETF:

a suspension, absence or material limitation of trading in such underlying ETF on its primary market for more than two consecutive hours of trading or during the one-half hour before the close of trading in that market, as determined by the calculation agent in its sole discretion,

a suspension, absence or material limitation of trading in option or futures contracts relating to such underlying ETF in the primary market for those contracts for more than two consecutive hours of trading or during the one-half hour before the close of trading in that market, as determined by the calculation agent in its sole discretion, or

such underlying ETF does not trade on what was the primary market for such underlying ETF, as determined by the calculation agent in its sole discretion,

and, in the case of any of these events, the calculation agent determines in its sole discretion that the event could materially interfere with the ability of GS Finance Corp. or any of its affiliates or a similarly situated party to unwind all or a material portion of a hedge that could be effected with respect to the notes. For more information about hedging by GS Finance Corp. and/or any of its affiliates, see “Use of Proceeds” and “Hedging” below.

The following events will not be market disruption events:

a limitation on the hours or numbers of days of trading, but only if the limitation results from an announced change in the regular business hours of the relevant market, and

a decision to permanently discontinue trading in option or futures contracts relating to such underlying ETF.

For this purpose, an “absence of trading” in the primary securities market on which shares of such underlying ETF are traded, or on which option or futures contracts, if available, relating to such underlying ETF are traded, will not include any time when that market is itself closed for trading under ordinary circumstances.  In contrast, a suspension or limitation of trading in shares of such underlying ETF or in option or futures contracts, if available, relating to such underlying ETF in the primary market for such underlying ETF or those contracts, by reason of:

a price change exceeding limits set by that market,

an imbalance of orders relating to the shares of such underlying ETF or those contracts, or

a disparity in bid and ask quotes relating to the shares of such underlying ETF or those contracts,  

will constitute a suspension or material limitation of trading in shares of such underlying ETF or those contracts in that market.

A market disruption event with respect to one underlying ETF will not, by itself, constitute a market disruption event for any other unaffected underlying ETF.

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As is the case throughout this prospectus supplement, references to the underlying ETF in this description of market disruption events includes the underlying ETF and any successor underlying ETF as it may be modified, replaced or adjusted from time to time.

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Use of Proceeds

 

We will lend the net proceeds from the sale of the offered notes to The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. or its affiliates. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will use the proceeds from such loans for the purposes we describe in the accompanying prospectus under “Use of Proceeds”. We or our affiliates may also use those proceeds in transactions intended to hedge our obligations under the offered notes as described below.

hEDGING

In anticipation of the sale of the offered notes, we and/or our affiliates have entered into or expect to enter into hedging transactions involving purchases of listed or over-the-counter options, futures and other instruments linked to the underlying ETFs or the underlying ETF stocks on or before the trade date.  In addition, from time to time after we issue the offered notes, we and/or our affiliates may enter into additional hedging transactions and to unwind those we have entered into, in connection with the offered notes and perhaps in connection with other ETF-linked notes we issue, some of which may have returns linked to the underlying ETFs or the underlying ETF stocks.  Consequently, with regard to your notes, from time to time, we and/or our affiliates:

expect to acquire, or dispose of positions in listed or over-the-counter options, futures or other instruments linked to the underlying ETFs or some or all of the underlying ETF stocks,

may take or dispose of positions in the securities of the underlying ETF stock issuers themselves,

may take or dispose of positions in listed or over-the-counter options or other instruments based on ETFs designed to track the performance of the stock exchanges or other components of the equity markets, and /or

may take short positions in the underlying ETF stocks or other securities of the kind described above — i.e., we and/or our affiliates may sell securities of the kind that we do not own or that we borrow for delivery to purchaser.

We and/or our affiliates may acquire a long or short position in securities similar to your notes from time to time and may, in our or their sole discretion, hold or resell those securities.

In the future, we and/or our affiliates expect to close out hedge positions relating to the offered notes and perhaps relating to other notes with returns linked to the underlying ETFs or the underlying ETF stocks.  We expect these steps to involve sales of instruments linked to the underlying ETFs on or shortly before the final coupon determination date.  These steps may also involve sales and/or purchases of some or all of the underlying ETF stocks, or listed or over-the-counter options, futures or other instruments linked to the underlying ETFs, some or all of the underlying ETF stocks or ETFs designed to track the performance of the U.S., European, Asian or other stock exchanges or other components of the U.S., European, Asian or other equity markets or other components of such markets.

The hedging activity discussed above may adversely affect the market value of your notes from time to time and the amount we will pay on your notes at maturity.  See “Additional Risk Factors Specific to Your Notes” above for a discussion of these adverse effects.


 

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THE UNDERLYING ETFs

SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust

The units of the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust (the “units”) are issued by SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust (the “trust”), a unit investment trust that is a registered investment company.

The trust is like a tracking ETF in that it seeks investment results which correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the S&P 500® Index (the “index”).

The trust does not have an investment advisor. Its investments are adjusted by the trustee.

The underlying ETF’s trustee is State Street Global Advisors Trust Company.

The trust’s sponsor is PDR Services, LLC.

The units trade on the NYSE Arca under the ticker symbol “SPY”.

The trust’s SEC CIK Number is 0000884394.

The inception date for purposes of the units was January 22, 1993.

The trust’s units are issued or redeemed only in creation units of 50,000 units.

We obtained the following fee information from the trust’s publicly available information without independent verification. The Trustee is entitled to receive a fee for services performed for the trust corresponding to the net asset value of the trust, at an annual rate of 0.10% per annum for the first $499,999,999 of assets, 0.08% per annum for assets over $499,999,999 and up to $2,499,999,999 and 0.06% per annum for assets of $2,500,000,000 or more (in each case reduced or increased by an adjustment amount for transaction fees, creation and redemption expenses and interest earned on cash). As of December 31, 2020, the trust’s gross expense ratio is 0.0945% per annum. The trustee has agreed to waive a portion of its fee until February 1, 2020 to the extent operating expenses exceed 0.0945% after earnings credits are applied. After February 1, 2020, the trustee may discontinue this fee waiver.

For additional information regarding SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust, please consult the reports (including the Semi-Annual Report to Shareholders on Form N30-D for the period ended March 31, 2020) and other information the trust files with the SEC. Additional information regarding the trust, including its top portfolio holdings, may be obtained from other sources including, but not limited to, press releases, newspaper articles, other publicly available documents, and the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust website at spdrs.com/product/fund.seam?ticker=SPY. We are not incorporating by reference the website, the sources listed above or any material they include in this prospectus supplement.

Investment Objective and Strategy

The trust seeks investment results that, before expenses, correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the index. The trust strives to achieve its investment objective by holding a portfolio of the common stocks that are included in the index, with the weight of each stock in the trust’s portfolio substantially corresponding to the weight of such stock in the index. Although the trust may fail to own certain securities included in the index at any particular time, the trust generally will be substantially invested in index securities.

To maintain the correspondence between the composition and weightings of the common stocks that are actually held by the trust and the common stocks that are included in the index, the trustee adjusts the trust portfolio from time to time to conform to periodic changes made by the index sponsor to the identity and/or relative weightings of the common stocks that are included in the index. The trustee aggregates certain of these adjustments and makes changes to the trust’s portfolio at least monthly, or more frequently in the case of significant changes to the index. The trust does not hold or trade futures or swaps and is not a commodity pool.

Notwithstanding the underlying ETF’s investment objective, the return on your notes will not reflect any dividends paid on the underlying ETF shares, on the securities purchased by the underlying ETF or on the securities that comprise the index.

The following table displays the top ten holdings and weightings by industry sector of the trust and index. (Sector designations are determined by the trust sponsor using criteria it has selected or developed. Index and trust sponsors may use very different standards for determining sector designations. In

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addition, many companies operate in a number of sectors, but are listed in only one sector and the basis on which that sector is selected may also differ. As a result, sector comparisons between indices or trusts with different sponsors may reflect differences in methodology as well as actual differences in the sector composition of the indices or trusts.) We obtained the information in the tables below from the trust website without independent verification.

Top Ten Holdings of Trust and Index as of January 15, 2021

Trust Issuer

Percentage of Trust (%)

Index Issuer

Percentage of Index (%)

APPLE INC.

6.39%

APPLE INC.

6.39%

MICROSOFT CORPORATION

5.06%

MICROSOFT CORPORATION

5.06%

Amazon.com Inc.

4.17%

Amazon.com Inc.

4.17%

TESLA INC.

1.97%

TESLA INC.

1.97%

FACEBOOK INC. CLASS A

1.90%

FACEBOOK INC. CLASS A

1.90%

Alphabet Inc. Class A

1.63%

Alphabet Inc. Class A

1.63%

ALPHABET INC. CLASS C

1.59%

ALPHABET INC. CLASS C

1.59%

BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC. CLASS B

1.43%

BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC. CLASS B

1.43%

JPMorgan Chase & Co.

1.33%

JPMorgan Chase & Co.

1.33%

Johnson & Johnson

1.33%

Johnson & Johnson

1.33%

 

Weighting by Sector of Trust and Index as of January 15, 2021

Sector

Percentage of Trust (%)

Percentage of Index (%)

Information Technology

26.98%

26.98%

Financials

10.89%

10.89%

Health Care

13.81%

13.81%

Consumer Discretionary

12.86%

12.87%

Consumer Staples

6.30%

6.30%

Industrials

8.38%

8.38%

Energy

2.59%

2.59%

Utilities

2.76%

2.76%

Real Estate

2.39%

2.39%

Materials

2.72%

2.72%

Communication Services

10.32%

10.32%

Correlation

Although the trust intends to track the performance of the index as closely as possible, the trust’s return may not match or achieve a high degree of correlation with the return of the index due to expenses and transaction costs incurred in adjusting the portfolio. In addition, it is possible that the trust may not always fully replicate the performance of the index due to unavailability of certain index securities in the secondary market or due to other extraordinary circumstances (e.g., if trading in a security has been halted).

For the period ended December 31, 2020, the SPDR® website gave the following performance figures for market price of a unit and the index: unit—1 year on an annualized basis, 18.18%; 3 years on an annualized basis, 13.94%; 5 years on an annualized basis, 15.03%; 10 years on an annualized basis, 13.72%; since inception on an annualized basis, 10.04%; index—1 year on an annualized basis, 18.40%; 3 years on an annualized basis, 14.18%; 5 years on an annualized basis, 15.22%; 10 years on an annualized basis, 13.88%; since inception on an annualized basis, 10.18%.

Unit Dividends

Holders of units receive dividends on the last business day of each April, July, October and January in an amount corresponding to the amount of any cash dividends declared on the common stocks held by the trust, net of the fees and expenses associated with the operation of the trust, and taxes, if applicable. Because of the fees and expenses, the dividend yield for units is ordinarily less than the hypothetical

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dividend yield of the index. The unit dividends will be reflected in the calculation of the index as described under “— Calculation of the Total Return of the Index” on page S-43 below.

The S&P 500® Index

The S&P 500® Index includes a representative sample of 500 companies in leading industries of the U.S. economy. The 500 companies are not the 500 largest companies listed on the NYSE and not all 500 companies are listed on the NYSE. S&P chooses companies for inclusion in the S&P 500® Index with an aim of achieving a distribution by broad industry groupings that approximates the distribution of these groupings in the common stock population of the U.S. equity market.  Although the S&P 500® Index contains 500 constituent companies, at any one time it may contain greater than 500 constituent trading lines since some companies included in the S&P 500® Index prior to July 31, 2017 may be represented by multiple share class lines in the index.  The S&P 500® Index is calculated, maintained and published by S&P and is part of the S&P Dow Jones Indices family of indices. We are not incorporating by reference the websites, the sources listed above or any material they include in this prospectus supplement.

S&P intends for the S&P 500® Index to provide a performance benchmark for the large-cap U.S. equity markets. Constituent changes are made on an as-needed basis and there is no schedule for constituent reviews. Index additions and deletions are announced with at least three business days advance notice. Less than three business days’ notice may be given at the discretion of the S&P Index Committee. Relevant criteria for additions to the S&P 500® Index that are employed by S&P include: the company proposed for addition should have an unadjusted company market capitalization of $9.8 billion or more and a security level float-adjusted market capitalization of at least 50% of such threshold (for spin-offs, eligibility is determined using when-issued prices, if available); using composite pricing and volume, the ratio of annual dollar value traded (defined as average closing price over the period multiplied by historical volume) in the proposed constituent to float-adjusted market capitalization of that company should be at least 1.00 and the stock should trade a minimum of 250,000 shares in each of the six months leading up to the evaluation date; the company must be a U.S. company (characterized as a Form 10-K filer with its U.S. portion of fixed assets and revenues constituting a plurality of the total and with a primary listing of the common stock on the NYSE, NYSE Arca, NYSE American (formerly NYSE MKT), Nasdaq Global Select Market, Nasdaq Select Market, Nasdaq Capital Market, Cboe BZX (formerly Bats BZX), Cboe BYX (formerly Bats BYX), Cboe EDGA (formerly Bats EDGA) or Cboe EDGX (formerly Bats EDGX) (each, an “eligible exchange”)); the proposed constituent has an investable weight factor (“IWF”) of 10% or more; the inclusion of the company will contribute to sector balance in the S&P 500® Index relative to sector balance in the market in the relevant market capitalization range; financial viability (the sum of the most recent four consecutive quarters’ Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) earnings (net income excluding discontinued operations) should be positive as should the most recent quarter); and, for IPOs, the company must be traded on an eligible exchange for at least twelve months (spin-offs or in-specie distributions from existing constituents do not need to be traded on an eligible exchange for twelve months prior to their inclusion in the S&P 500® Index). In addition, constituents of the S&P MidCap 400® Index and the S&P SmallCap 600® Index can be added to the S&P 500® Index provided they meet the unadjusted company level market capitalization eligibility criteria for the S&P 500® Index. Migrations from the S&P MidCap 400® Index or the S&P SmallCap 600® Index do not need to meet the financial viability, liquidity, or 50% of the S&P 500® Index’s unadjusted company level minimum market capitalization threshold criteria.  Further, constituents of the S&P Total Market Index Ex S&P Composite 1500 (which includes all eligible U.S. common equities except for those included in the S&P 500® Index, the S&P MidCap 400® Index and the S&P SmallCap 600® Index) that acquire a constituent of the S&P 500® Index, the S&P MidCap 400® Index or the S&P SmallCap 600® Index that do not fully meet the financial viability or IWF criteria may still be added to the S&P 500® Index at the discretion of the Index Committee if the Index Committee determines that the addition could minimize turnover and enhance the representativeness of the S&P 500® Index as a market benchmark. Certain types of organizational structures and securities are always excluded, including, but not limited to, business development companies (BDCs), limited partnerships, master limited partnerships, limited liability companies (LLCs), OTC bulletin board issues, closed-end funds, ETFs, ETNs, royalty trusts, tracking stocks, special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), preferred stock and convertible preferred stock, unit trusts, equity warrants, convertible bonds, investment trusts, rights and American depositary receipts (ADRs). Stocks are deleted from the S&P 500® Index when they are involved in mergers, acquisitions or significant restructurings such that they no longer meet the inclusion criteria, and when they substantially

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violate one or more of the addition criteria. Stocks that are delisted or moved to the pink sheets or the bulletin board are removed, and those that experience a trading halt may be retained or removed in S&P’s discretion. S&P evaluates additions and deletions with a view to maintaining S&P 500® Index continuity.For constituents included in the index prior to July 31, 2017, all publicly listed multiple share class lines are included separately in the index, subject to, in the case of any such share class line, that share class line satisfying the liquidity and float criteria discussed above and subject to certain exceptions.  It is possible that one listed share class line of a company may be included in the index while a second listed share class line of the same company is excluded.  For companies that issue a second publicly traded share class to index share class holders, the newly issued share class line is considered for inclusion if the event is mandatory and the market capitalization of the distributed class is not considered to be de minimis.

As of July 31, 2017, companies with multiple share class lines are no longer eligible for inclusion in the index. Only common shares are considered when determining whether a company has a multiple share class structure. Constituents of the index prior to July 31, 2017 with multiple share class lines will be grandfathered in and continue to be included in the index. If an index constituent reorganizes into a multiple share class line structure, that company will be reviewed for continued inclusion in the index at the discretion of the S&P Index Committee.

Calculation of the Total Return of the Index

The trust tracks the performance of the total return version of the index and the index is calculated using a base-weighted aggregative methodology. The total return calculation begins with the price return of the index. The value of the price return index on any day for which an index value is published is determined by a fraction, the numerator of which is the aggregate of the market price of each stock in the index times the number of shares of such stock included in the index, and the denominator of which is the divisor, which is described more fully below. The “market value” of any underlying ETF stock is the product of the market price per share of that stock times the number of the then-outstanding shares of such underlying ETF stock that are then included in the index.

The index is also sometimes called a “base-weighted aggregative index” because of its use of a divisor. The “divisor” is a value calculated by S&P that is intended to maintain conformity in index values over time and is adjusted for all changes in the underlying ETF stocks’ share capital after the “base date” as described below. The level of the index reflects the total market value of all underlying ETF stocks relative to the index’s base date of 1941-43.

In addition, the index is float-adjusted, meaning that the share counts used in calculating the index reflect only those shares available to investors rather than all of a company’s outstanding shares. S&P seeks to exclude shares held by long-term, strategic shareholders concerned with the control of a company, a group that generally includes the following: officers and directors and related individuals whose holdings are publicly disclosed, private equity, venture capital, special equity firms, asset managers and insurance companies with board of director representation, publicly traded companies that hold shares in another company, holders of restricted shares (except for shares held as part of a lock-up agreement), company-sponsored employee share plans/trusts, defined contribution plans/savings, investment plans, foundations or family trusts associated with the company, government entities at all levels (except government retirement or pension funds), sovereign wealth funds and any individual person listed as a 5% or greater stakeholder in a company as reported in regulatory filings (collectively, “strategic holders”). To this end, S&P excludes all share-holdings (other than depositary banks, pension funds (including government pension and retirement funds), mutual funds, exchange traded fund providers, investment funds, asset managers (including hedge funds with no board of director representation), investment funds of insurance companies and independent foundations not associated with the company) with a position greater than 5% of the outstanding shares of a company from the float-adjusted share count to be used in index calculations.

The exclusion is accomplished by calculating an IWF for each stock that is part of the numerator of the float-adjusted index fraction described above:

IWF = (available float shares) / (total shares outstanding)

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where available float shares is defined as total shares outstanding less shares held by strategic holders. In most cases, an IWF is reported to the nearest one percentage point. For companies with multiple share class lines, a separate IWF is calculated for each share class line.

Once the price return index has been calculated, the total return index is calculated. First, the total daily dividend for each stock in the index is calculated by multiplying the per share dividend by the number of shares included in the index. Then the index dividend is calculated by aggregating the total daily dividends for each of the index stocks (which may be zero for some stocks) and dividing by the divisor for that day. Next the daily total return of the index is calculated as a fraction minus 1, the numerator of which is the sum of the index level plus the index dividend and the denominator of which is the index level on the previous day. Finally, the total return index for that day is calculated as the product of the value of the total return index on the previous day times the sum of 1 plus the index daily total return for that day.

Maintenance of the Index

In order to keep the index comparable over time S&P engages in an index maintenance process. The maintenance process involves changing the constituents as discussed above, and also involves maintaining quality assurance processes and procedures, adjusting the number of shares used to calculate the index, monitoring and completing the adjustments for company additions and deletions, adjusting for stock splits and stock dividends and adjusting for other corporate actions. In addition to its daily governance of indices and maintenance of the index methodology, at least once within any 12 month period, the S&P Index Committee reviews the index methodology to ensure the index continues to achieve the stated objective, and that the data and methodology remain effective. The S&P Index Committee may at times consult with investors, market participants, security issuers included or potentially included in the index, or investment and financial experts.

Divisor Adjustments

The two types of adjustments primarily used by S&P are divisor adjustments and adjustments to the number of shares (including float adjustments) used to calculate the index. Set forth below under “Adjustments for Corporate Actions is a table of certain corporate events and their resulting effect on the divisor and the share count. If a corporate event requires an adjustment to the divisor, that event has the effect of altering the market value of the affected underlying ETF stock and consequently of altering the aggregate market value of the underlying ETF stocks following the event. In order that the level of the index not be affected by the altered market value (which could be an increase or decrease) of the affected underlying ETF stock, S&P generally derives a new divisor by dividing the post-event market value of the underlying ETF stocks by the pre-event index value, which has the effect of reducing the index’s post-event value to the pre-event level.

Changes to the Number of Shares of a Constituent

The index maintenance process also involves tracking the changes in the number of shares included for each of the index companies. Changes as a result of mandatory events, such as mergers or acquisition driven share/IWF changes, stock splits and mandatory distributions are not subject to a minimum threshold for implementation and are implemented when the transaction occurs. At S&P’s discretion, however, de minimis merger and acquisition changes may be accumulated and implemented with the updates made with the quarterly share updates as described below. Material share/IWF changes resulting from certain non-mandatory corporate actions follow the accelerated implementation rule. Non-material share/IWF changes are implemented quarterly.

Accelerated Implementation Rule

1. Public offerings. Public offerings of new company-issued shares and/or existing shares offered by selling shareholders, including block sales and spot secondaries, will be eligible for accelerated implementation treatment if the size of the event meets the materiality threshold criteria:

(a)

at least US $150 million, and

(b)

at least 5% of the pre-event total shares.

In addition to the materiality threshold, public offerings must satisfy the following conditions:

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be underwritten.

have a publicly available prospectus, offering document, or prospectus summary filed with the relevant authorities.

have a publicly available confirmation from an official source that the offering has been completed.

For public offerings that involve a concurrent combination of new company shares and existing shares offered by selling shareholders, both events are implemented if either of the public offerings represent at least 5% of total shares and $150 million. Any concurrent share repurchase by the affected company will also be included in the implementation.

2. Dutch Auctions, self-tender offer buybacks, and split-off exchange offers. These nonmandatory corporate action types will be eligible for accelerated implementation treatment regardless of size once their results are publicly announced by S&P.

Exception to the Accelerated Implementation Rule

For non-mandatory corporate actions subject to the accelerated implementation rule with a size of at least US $1 billion, S&P will apply the share change, and any resulting IWF change, using the latest share and ownership information publicly available at the time of the announcement, even if the offering size is below the 5% threshold. This exception ensures that very large events are recognized in a timely manner using the latest available information.

All non-mandatory events not covered by the accelerated implementation rule (including but not limited to private placements, acquisition of private companies, and conversion of non-index share lines) will be implemented quarterly coinciding with the third Friday of the third month in each calendar quarter. In addition, events that were not implemented under the accelerated implementation rule but were found to have been eligible, (e.g. due to lack of publicly available information at the time of the event) are implemented as part of a quarterly rebalancing.

Announcement Policy

For accelerated implementation, S&P will provide two (2) business days’ notice for all non-US domiciled stocks, and one (1) business days’ notice for all US domiciled stocks.

IWF Updates

Accelerated implementation for events less than $1 billion will include an adjustment to the company’s IWF only to the extent that such an IWF change helps the new float share total mimic the shares available in the offering. To minimize unnecessary turnover, these IWF changes do not need to meet any minimum threshold requirement for implementation. Any IWF change resulting in an IWF of 0.96 or greater is rounded up to 1.00 at the next annual IWF review.

IWF changes will only be made at the quarterly review if the change represents at least 5% of total current shares outstanding and is related to a single corporate action that did not qualify for the accelerated implementation rule.

Quarterly share change events resulting from the conversion of derivative securities, acquisitions of private companies, or acquisitions of non-index companies that do not trade on a major exchange are considered to be available to investors unless there is explicit information stating that the new owner is a strategic holder.

Other than the situations described above, please note that IWF changes are only made at the annual IWF review.

Share Updates

When total shares outstanding increase by at least 5%, but the new share issuance is to a strategic or

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major shareholder, it implies that there is no change in float- adjusted shares. However, in such instances, S&P will apply the share change and resulting IWF change regardless of whether the float change is greater than or equal to 5%.

For companies with multiple share class lines, the 5% share change threshold is based on each individual multiple share class line rather than total company shares.

Changes to share counts that total less than 5% of total shares are accumulated and made quarterly on the third Friday of March, June, September, and December.

Exceptions:

Any non- fully paid or non-fully settled offering such as forward sales agreements are not eligible for accelerated implementation. Share updates resulting from completion of subscription receipts terms or the settlement of forward sale agreements are updated at a future quarterly share rebalance.

Rebalancing Guidelines – Share/IWF Freeze

A share/IWF freeze period is implemented during each quarterly rebalancing. The freeze period begins after the market close on the Tuesday prior to the second Friday of each rebalancing month (i.e. March, June, September, and December) and ends after the market close on the third Friday of the rebalancing month. Pro-forma files are normally released after the market close on the second Friday, one week prior to the rebalancing effective date. In September, preliminary share and float data is released on the first Friday of the month. However, the share freeze period for September follows the same schedule as the other three quarterly share freeze periods. For illustration purposes, if rebalancing pro-forma files are scheduled to be released on Friday, March 13, the share/IWF freeze period will begin after the close of trading on Tuesday, March 10 and will end after the close of trading the following Friday, March 20 (i.e. the third Friday of the rebalancing month).

During the share/IWF freeze period, shares and IWFs are not changed except for mandatory corporate action events (such as merger activity, stock splits, and rights offerings), and the accelerated implementation rule is suspended. The suspension includes all changes that qualify for accelerated implementation and would typically be announced or effective during the share/IWF freeze period. At the end of the freeze period all suspended changes will be announced on the third Friday of the rebalancing month and implemented five business days after the quarterly rebalancing effective date.

Adjustments for Corporate Actions

There is a large range of corporate actions that may affect companies included in the index. Certain corporate actions require S&P to recalculate the share count or the float adjustment or to make an adjustment to the divisor to prevent the value of the index from changing as a result of the corporate action. This helps ensure that the movement of the index does not reflect the corporate actions of individual companies in the index.

Spin-Offs

As a general policy, a spin-off security is added to the S&P 500® Index on the ex-date at a price of zero (with no divisor adjustment) and will remain in the index for at least one trading day. The spin-off security will remain in the S&P 500® Index if it meets all eligibility criteria. If the spin-off security is determined ineligible to remain in the S&P 500® Index, it will generally be removed after at least one day of regular way trading (with a divisor adjustment). The weight of the spin-off being deleted is reinvested across all the index components proportionately such that the relative weights of all index components are unchanged. The net change in index market capitalization will cause a divisor change.

Companies that are spun off from a constituent of the S&P 500® Index do not need to meet the eligibility criteria for new constituents, but they should be considered U.S. domiciled for index purposes. At the discretion of the Index Committee, a spin-off company may be retained in the S&P 500® Index if the Index Committee determines it has a total market capitalization representative of the S&P 500® Index. If the spin-off company’s estimated market capitalization is below the minimum of $8.2 billion for addition criteria but there are other constituent companies in the S&P 500® Index that have a significantly lower

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total market capitalization than the spin-off company, the Index Committee may decide to retain the spin-off company in the S&P 500® Index.

Several additional types of corporate actions, and their related treatment, are listed in the table below.

 

Corporate Action

Treatment

Company addition/deletion

Addition

Companies are added at the float market capitalization weight. The net change to the index market capitalization causes a divisor adjustment.

Deletion

The weights of all stocks in the index will proportionally change. Relative weights will stay the same. The index divisor will change due to the net change in the index market capitalization

Change in shares outstanding

Increasing (decreasing) the shares outstanding increases (decreases) the market capitalization of the index. The change to the index market capitalization causes a divisor adjustment.

Split/reverse split

Shares outstanding are adjusted by split ratio. Stock price is adjusted by split ratio. There is no change to the index market capitalization and no divisor adjustment.

Change in IWF

Increasing (decreasing) the IWF increases (decreases) the market capitalization of the index. A net change to the index market capitalization causes a divisor adjustment.

Ordinary dividend

When a company pays an ordinary cash dividend, the index does not make any adjustments to the price or shares of the stock. As a result there are no divisor adjustments to the index.

Special dividend

The stock price is adjusted by the amount of the dividend. The net change to the index market capitalization causes a divisor adjustment

Rights offering

All rights offerings that are in the money on the ex-date are applied under the assumption the rights are fully subscribed. The stock price is adjusted by the value of the rights and the shares outstanding are increased by the rights ratio. The net change in market capitalization causes a divisor adjustment.

 

Any company that is removed from the S&P 500® Index, the S&P MidCap 400® Index or the S&P SmallCap 600® Index must wait a minimum of one year from its removal date before being reconsidered as a replacement candidate for the S&P 500® Index.

Recalculation Policy

S&P reserves the right to recalculate and republish the index at its discretion in the event one of the following issues has occurred: (1) incorrect or revised closing price of one or more constituent securities; (2) missed or misapplied corporate action; (3) incorrect application of an index methodology; (4) late announcement of a corporate action; or (5) incorrect calculation or data entry error. The decision to recalculate the index is made at the discretion of the index manager and/or index committee, as further discussed below.  The potential market impact or disruption resulting from a recalculation is considered when making any such decision.  In the event of an incorrect closing price, a missed or misapplied corporate action, a late announcement of a corporate action, or an incorrect calculation or data entry error that is discovered within two trading days of its occurrence, generally the index is recalculated. In the event any such event is discovered beyond the two trading day period, the index committee shall decide whether the index should be recalculated. In the event of an incorrect application of the methodology that results in the incorrect composition and/or weighting of index constituents,

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the index committee shall determine whether or not to recalculate the index following specified guidelines. In the event that the index is recalculated, it shall be done within a reasonable timeframe following the detection and review of the issue.

Calculations and Pricing Disruptions

Closing levels for the index are calculated by S&P based on the closing price of the individual constituents of the index as set by their primary exchange. Closing prices are received by S&P from one of its third party vendors and verified by comparing them with prices from an alternative vendor. The vendors receive the closing price from the primary exchanges. Real-time intraday prices are calculated similarly without a second verification. Official end-of-day calculations are based on each stock’s primary market closing price. Prices used for the calculation of real time index values are based on the “Consolidated Tape”. The Consolidated Tape is an aggregation of trades for each constituent over all regional exchanges and trading venues and includes the primary exchange. If there is a failure or interruption on one or more exchanges, real-time calculations will continue as long as the “Consolidated Tape” is operational.

If an interruption is not resolved prior to the market close, official closing prices will be determined by following the hierarchy set out in NYSE Rule 123C. A notice is published on the S&P website at spdji.com indicating any changes to the prices used in index calculations. In extreme circumstances, S&P may decide to delay index adjustments or not publish the index. Real-time indices are not restated.

Unexpected Exchange Closures

An unexpected market/exchange closure occurs when a market/exchange fully or partially fails to open or trading is temporarily halted. This can apply to a single exchange or to a market as a whole, when all of the primary exchanges are closed and/or not trading. Unexpected market/exchange closures are usually due to unforeseen circumstances, such as natural disasters, inclement weather, outages, or other events.

To a large degree, S&P is dependent on the exchanges to provide guidance in the event of an unexpected exchange closure. S&P’s decision making is dependent on exchange guidance regarding pricing and mandatory corporate actions.

NYSE Rule 123C provides closing contingency procedures for determining an official closing price for listed securities if the exchange is unable to conduct a closing transaction in one or more securities due to a system or technical issue.

3:00 PM ET is the deadline for an exchange to determine its plan of action regarding an outage scenario. As such, S&P also uses 3:00 PM ET as the cutoff.

If all major exchanges fail to open or unexpectedly halt trading intraday due to unforeseen circumstances, S&P will take the following actions:

Market Disruption Prior to Open of Trading:

(i)

If all exchanges indicate that trading will not open for a given day, S&P will treat the day as an unscheduled market holiday. The decision will be communicated to clients as soon as possible through the normal channels. Indices containing multiple markets will be calculated as normal, provided that at least one market is open that day. Indices which only contain closed markets will not be calculated.

(ii)

If exchanges indicate that trading, although delayed, will open for a given day, S&P will begin index calculation when the exchanges open.  

Market Disruption Intraday:

(i)

If exchanges indicate that trading will not resume for a given day, the index level will be calculated using prices determined by the exchanges based on NYSE Rule 123C. Intraday index values will continue to use the last traded composite price until the primary exchange publishes official closing prices.

“SPDR®” is a registered trademark of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC (“S&P”) and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC (“Dow Jones”) and have been licensed for use by S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC. The index is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, Dow Jones, S&P or their respective affiliates, and neither S&P Dow Jones

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Indices LLC, Dow Jones, S&P or their respective affiliates make any representation regarding the advisability of investing in the index.


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SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF

The shares of the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF (the “Underlying ETF”) are issued by the SPDR® Series Trust (the “trust”), a registered investment company.

  

The underlying ETF seeks investment results that, before fees and expenses, correspond generally to the total return performance of the S&P Regional Banks Select Industry Index (the “index”).

  

The underlying ETF’s investment advisor is SSGA Funds Management, Inc. (“SSGA”).

  

The underlying ETF’s shares trade on the NYSE Arca under the ticker symbol “KRE”.

  

The trust’s SEC CIK Number is 0001064642.

  

The underlying ETF’s inception date was June 19, 2006.

  

The underlying ETF’s shares are issued or redeemed only in creation units of 50,000 shares or multiples thereof.

We obtained the following fee information, from the SPDR® website without independent verification. SSGA is entitled to receive a management fee from the underlying ETF based on a percentage of the underlying ETF’s average daily net assets at an annual rate of 0.35% of the average daily net assets of the underlying ETF. From time to time, SSGA may waive all or a portion of its fee, although it does not currently intend to do so. SSGA pays all expenses of the underlying ETF other than the management fee, brokerage expenses, taxes, interest, fees and expenses of the independent trustees (including any trustee’s counsel fees), litigation expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses and other extraordinary expenses. As of December 31, 2020, the gross expense ratio of the underlying ETF was 0.35% per annum.

For additional information regarding the trust or SSGA, please consult the reports (including the Annual Report to Shareholders on Form N−CSR for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020) and other information the trust files with the SEC. In addition, information regarding the underlying ETF, including its top portfolio holdings, may be obtained from other sources including, but not limited to, press releases, newspaper articles, other publicly available documents, and the SPDR® website at ssga.com/us/en/individual/etfs/funds/spdr-sp-regional-banking-etf-kre. We are not incorporating by reference the website, the sources listed above or any material they include in this pricing supplement.

Investment Objective and Strategy

The underlying ETF seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the total return performance, before fees and expenses, of the S&P Regional Banks Select Industry Index (the “index”). Prior to October 24, 2011, the underlying ETF’s investment strategy sought to track the total return performance, before fees and expenses, of an index different from the S&P Regional Banks Select Industry Index. Performance of the underlying ETF prior to October 24, 2011 is therefore based on the underlying ETF’s investment strategy with respect to the prior index, the KBW Regional Banking Index.

The underlying ETF uses a representative sampling strategy to try to achieve its investment objective, which means that the underlying ETF is not required to purchase all of the securities represented in the index. Instead, the underlying ETF may purchase a subset of the securities in the index in an effort to hold a portfolio of securities with generally the same risk and return characteristics of the index. Under normal market conditions, the underlying ETF generally invests substantially all, but at least 80%, of its total assets in the securities comprising the index. The underlying ETF will provide shareholders with at least 60 days’ notice prior to any change in this 80% investment policy. In addition, the underlying ETF may invest in equity securities not included in the index, cash and cash equivalents or money market instruments, such as repurchase agreements and money market funds (including money market funds advised by SSGA). Futures contracts (a type of derivative instrument) may be used by the underlying ETF in seeking performance that corresponds to the index and in managing cash flows. Also, the underlying ETF may lend securities representing up to 40% of the value of the underlying ETF's net assets.

In certain situations or market conditions, the underlying ETF may temporarily depart from its normal investment policies and strategies provided that the alternative is consistent with the underlying ETF’s

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investment objective and is in the best interest of the underlying ETF. For example, the underlying ETF may make larger than normal investments in derivatives to maintain exposure to the index if it is unable to invest directly in a component security.

The board may change the underlying ETF’s investment strategy, index and other policies without shareholder approval. The board may also change the underlying ETF’s investment objective without shareholder approval.

Notwithstanding the underlying ETF’s investment objective, the return on your notes will not reflect any

dividends paid on the underlying ETF shares, on the securities purchased by the underlying ETF or on the securities that

comprise the index.

The Underlying ETF’s Holdings and Industrial Sector Classifications

The underlying ETF holds stocks of companies in the regional banks segment of the S&P Total Market Index. As of January 15, 2021, the underlying ETF held stocks of companies in the following sub-industries (with their corresponding weights in the underlying ETF): regional banks (99.99%) and data processing & outsourced services (0.01%).

As of January 15, 2021, the top ten constituents of the underlying ETF and their relative weights in the underlying ETF were as follows: SVB Financial Group (4.16%), First Republic Bank (3.74%), Regions Financial Corporation (3.70%), Fifth Third Bancorp (3.68), KeyCorp (3.67%), M&T Bank Corporation (3.63%), Citizens Financial Group Inc. ( 3.63), Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (3.61%), Truist Financial Corporation (3.49%) and Comerica Incorporated (3.43%).

Correlation

Although SSGA seeks to track the performance of the index (i.e., achieve a high degree of correlation with the index), the underlying ETF’s return may not match the return of the index. The underlying ETF incurs a number of operating expenses not applicable to the index, and incurs costs in buying and selling securities. In addition, the underlying ETF may not be fully invested at times, generally as a result of cash flows into or out of the underlying ETF or reserves of cash held by the underlying ETF to meet redemptions. SSGA may attempt to track the index return by investing in fewer than all of the securities in the index, or in some securities not included in the index, potentially increasing the risk of divergence between the underlying ETF’s return and that of the index.

 

As of December 31, 2020, the SPDR® website gave the following performance figures for the market value return of the underlying ETF’s shares (which is based on the midpoint between the highest bid and the lowest offer on the exchange on which the shares of the underlying ETF are listed for trading, as of the time that the underlying ETF’s NAV is calculated, and is before tax) and the index return (in each case on an annualized basis):

Period

1 year

3 years

5 years

10 years

Since ETF inception*

ETF’s shares

-7.46%

-1.51%

6.76%

9.17%

2.93%

Index

-7.10%

-1.24%

7.08%

9.58%

3.24%

*June 19, 2006.

Industry Concentration Policy

The underlying ETF’s assets will generally be concentrated in an industry or group of industries to the extent that the index concentrates in a particular industry or group of industries. By focusing its investments in a particular industry or sector, financial, economic, business, and other developments affecting issuers in that industry, market, or economic sector will have a greater effect on the underlying ETF than if it had not focused its assets in that industry, market or economic sector, which may increase the volatility of the underlying ETF.

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Share Prices and the Secondary Market

The trading prices of shares of the underlying ETF will fluctuate continuously throughout trading hours based on market supply and demand rather than the underlying ETF’s net asset value, which is calculated at the end of each business day. The trading prices of the underlying ETF’s shares may differ (and may deviate significantly during periods of market volatility) from the underlying ETF’s daily net asset value. In addition, the issuance or redemption of underlying ETF shares to or from certain institutional investors, which are done only in large blocks of at least 50,000, may cause temporary dislocations in the market price of the shares.

The Index

The S&P Regional Banks Select Industry Index (Bloomberg symbol, “SPSIRBK Index”) is managed by S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC (“S&P”) and is a modified equal-weighted index that is designed to measure the performance of stocks in the S&P Total Market Index that both (i) are classified under the Global Industry Classification Standard (“GICS®”) in the regional banks sub-industry and (ii) satisfy certain liquidity and market capitalization requirements. The S&P Total Market Index tracks all eligible U.S. common stocks listed on the NYSE, NYSE Arca, NYSE American (formerly NYSE MKT), Nasdaq Global Select Market, Nasdaq Select Market, Nasdaq Capital Market, Cboe BZX (formerly Bats BZX), Cboe BYX (formerly Bats BYX), Cboe EDGA (formerly Bats EDGA) or Cboe EDGX (formerly Bats EDGX). The index is one of the 21 sub-industry sector indices S&P maintains that are derived from a portion of the stocks comprising the S&P Total Market Index. An equal-weighted index is one where every stock, or company, has the same weight in the index. As such, the index must be rebalanced from time to time to re-establish the proper weighting.

The underlying ETF tracks the performance of the total return version of the index. A total return index represents the total return earned in a portfolio that tracks the price index and reinvests dividend income in the overall index, not in the specific stock paying the dividend. The difference between the price return calculation and the total return calculation is that, with respect to the price return calculation, changes in the index level reflect changes in stock prices, whereas with respect to the total return calculation of the index, changes in the index level reflect both movements in stock prices and the reinvestment of dividend income. Notwithstanding that the underlying ETF tracks the performance of the total return version of the index, the return on your notes will not reflect any dividends paid on the underlying ETF shares, on the securities purchased by the underlying ETF or on the securities that comprise the index.

 

Eligibility for Inclusion in the Index

Selection for the index is based on a company’s GICS® classification, as well as liquidity and market capitalization requirements. In addition, only U.S. companies are eligible for inclusion in the index. GICS® classifications are determined by S&P using criteria it has selected or developed. Index and classification system sponsors may use very different standards for determining sector designations. In addition, many companies operate in a number of sectors, but are listed in only one sector. As a result, sector comparisons between indices with different index sponsors may reflect differences in methodology as well as actual differences in the sector composition of the indices.

To qualify for membership in the index, at each quarterly rebalancing a stock must satisfy the following criteria: (i) be a member of the S&P Total Market Index; (ii) be assigned to the regional banks sub-industry; and (iii) meet one of the following float-adjusted market capitalization (FAMC) and float-adjusted liquidity ratio (FALR) requirements: (a) be a current constituent of the index and have a FAMC greater than or equal to $300 million and have a FALR greater than or equal to 50%; (b) have an FAMC greater than or equal to $500 million and a FALR greater than or equal to 90%; or (c) have an FAMC greater than or equal to $400 million and a FALR greater than or equal to 150%. The FALR is defined as the dollar value traded over the previous 12 months divided by the FAMC as of the index’s rebalancing reference date.

All stocks in the related GICS® sub-industy satisfying the above requirements are included in the index and the total number of stocks in the index should be at least 35. If there are fewer than 35 stocks in the index, the market capitalization requirements may be relaxed to reach at least 22 stocks.

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With respect to liquidity, the length of time to evaluate liquidity is reduced to the available trading period for companies that recently became public or companies that were spun-off from other companies, the stocks of which therefore do not have 12 months of trading history.

Current Composition of the Index

As of January 15, 2021, the index was comprised of the stocks of 128 companies.

As of January 15, 2021, the top ten constituents of the index and their relative weights in the index were as follows: SVB Financial Group (4.16%), First Republic Bank (3.74%), Regions Financial Corporation (3.70%), Fifth Third Bancorp (3.68), KeyCorp (3.67%), M&T Bank Corporation (3.63%), Citizens Financial Group Inc. ( 3.63), Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (3.60%), Truist Financial Corporation (3.49%) and Comerica Incorporated (3.43%).

Calculation of the Total Return of the Index

The underlying ETF tracks the performance of the “total return” version of the index. The total return calculation begins with the price return of the index. The price return index is calculated as the index market value divided by the divisor. In an equal-weighted index like the index, the market capitalization of each stock used in the calculation of the index market value is redefined so that each stock has an equal weight in the index on each rebalancing date. The adjusted market capitalization for each stock in the index is calculated as the product of the stock price, the number of shares outstanding, the stock’s float factor and the adjustment factor.

A stock’s float factor refers to the number of shares outstanding that are available to investors. S&P indices exclude shares closely held by control groups from the index calculation because such shares are not available to investors. For each stock, S&P calculates an Investable Weight Factor (IWF) which is the percentage of total shares outstanding that are included in the index calculation.

The adjustment factor for each stock is assigned at each rebalancing date and is calculated by dividing a specific constant set for the purpose of deriving the adjustment factor (often referred to as modified index shares) by the number of stocks in the index multiplied by the float adjusted market value of such stock on such rebalancing date.

Adjustments (i.e. modifications) are also made to ensure that no stock in the index will have a weight that exceeds the value that can be traded in a single day for a theoretical portfolio of $2 billion. Theoretical portfolio values are reviewed annually and any updates are made at the discretion of the index committee, as defined below.

The maximum basket liquidity weight for each stock in the index will be calculated using the ratio of its three-month median daily value traded to the theoretical portfolio value of $2 billion. Each stock’s weight in the index is then compared to its maximum basket liquidity weight and is set to the lesser of (1) its maximum basket liquidity weight or (2) its initial equal weight. All excess weight is redistributed across the index to the uncapped stocks. If necessary, a final adjustment is made to ensure that no stock in the index has a weight greater than 4.5%. No further adjustments are made if the latter step would force the weight of those stocks limited to their maximum basket liquidity weight to exceed that weight. If the index contains exactly 22 stocks as of the rebalancing effective date, the index will be equally weighted without basket liquidity constraints.

If a company has more than one share class line in the S&P Total Market Index, such company will be represented once by the designated listing (generally the share class with both (i) the highest one-year trading liquidity as defined by median daily value traded and (ii) the largest FAMC). S&P reviews designated listings on an annual basis and any changes are implemented after the close of the third Friday in September. The last trading day in July is used as the reference date for the liquidity and market capitalization data in such determination. Once a listed share class line is added to the index, it may be retained in the index even though it may appear to violate certain constituent addition criteria. For companies that issue a second publicly traded share class to index share class holders, the newly issued share class line will be considered for inclusion if the event is mandatory and the market capitalization of the distributed class is not considered to be de minimis.

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The index is calculated by using the divisor methodology used in all S&P equity indices. The initial divisor was set to have a base value of 1,000 on June 20, 2003. The index level is the index market value divided by the index divisor. In order to maintain index series continuity, it is also necessary to adjust the divisor at each rebalancing. Therefore, the divisor (after rebalancing) equals the index market value (after rebalancing) divided by the index value before rebalancing. The divisor keeps the index comparable over time and is one manipulation point for adjustments to the index, which we refer to as maintenance of the index.

Once the price return index has been calculated, the total return index is calculated. First, the total daily dividend for each stock in the index is calculated by multiplying the per share dividend by the number of shares included in the index. Dividends are reinvested in the index after the close on the ex-date for such dividend. Then the index dividend is calculated by aggregating the total daily dividends for each of the index stocks (which may be zero for some stocks) and dividing by the divisor for that day. Next the daily total return of the index is calculated as a fraction minus 1, the numerator of which is the sum of the index level plus the index dividend and the denominator of which is the index level on the previous day. Finally, the total return index for that day is calculated as the product of the value of the total return index on the previous day times the sum of 1 plus the index daily total return for that day.

Maintenance of the Index

The composition of the index is reviewed quarterly. Rebalancing occurs after the closing of the relevant U.S. trading markets on the third Friday of the month ending that quarter. The reference date for additions and deletions is after the closing of the last trading day of the previous month. Closing prices as of the second Friday of the last month of the quarter are used for setting index weights. Existing stocks in the index are removed at the quarterly rebalancing if either their FAMC falls below $300 million or their FALR falls below 50%. A stock will also be deleted from the index if the S&P Total Market Index deletes that stock. Stocks are added between rebalancings only if a company deletion causes the number of stocks in the index to fall below 22. The newly added stock will be added to the index at the weight of the deleted stock. If the stock was deleted at $0.00, the newly added stock will be added at the deleted stock’s previous day’s closing value (or the most immediate prior business day that the deleted stock was not valued at $0.00) and an adjustment to the divisor will be made (only in the case of stocks removed at $0.00). At the next rebalancing, the index will be rebalanced based on the eligibility requirements and equal-weight methodology discussed above. In the case of GICS® changes, where a stock does not belong to the regional banks sub-industry after the classification change, it is removed from the index on the next rebalancing date.

In the case of a spin-off, the spin-off company will be added to the index at a zero price after the close of trading on the day before the ex-date. In general and subject to certain exceptions, both the parent company and spin-off companies will remain in the index until the next index rebalancing.

In the case of a merger involving two index constituents, the merged entity will remain in the index provided that it meets all general eligibility requirements. The merged entity will be added to the index at the weight of the stock deemed to be the surviving stock in the transaction. The surviving stock will not experience a weight change and its subsequent weight will not be equal to that of the pre-merger weight of the merged entities.

Adjustments are made to the index in the event of certain corporate actions relating to the stocks included in the index, such as spin-offs, rights offerings, stock splits and special dividends, as specified below.

The table below summarizes the types of index maintenance adjustments:


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Type of Corporate Action

Adjustment Factor

Divisor Adjustment Required

Spin-Off

In general and subject to certain

exceptions, both the parent stock and spin-off stocks will remain in the index until the next index rebalancing, regardless of whether they conform to the theme of the index.

No

Rights Offering

Price is adjusted to equal (i) price of parent company minus (ii) price of rights subscription divided by the rights ratio. Index shares change so that the company’s weight remains the same as its weight before the rights offering.

No

Stock split (e.g., 2-for-1), stock dividend or reverse stock split

Index shares multiplied by split factor (i.e., 2); stock price divided by split factor (i.e., 2)

No

Share issuance or share repurchase

None

No

Special dividends

Price of the stock making the special dividend payment is reduced by the per share special dividend amount after the close of trading on the day before the dividend ex-date.

Yes

Index Committee

The Americas Thematic and Strategy Index Committee (the “index committee”) maintains the index and consists of full-time professional members of S&P staff. At regular meetings, the index committee reviews pending corporate actions that may affect index constituents, statistics comparing the composition of the indices to the market, companies that are being considered as candidates for additions to the index and any significant market events. The index committee may also revise index policy, such as the rules for selecting constituents, the treatment of dividends, share counts or other matters.

Unexpected Exchange Closures

 

An unexpected market/exchange closure occurs when a market/exchange fully or partially fails to open or trading is temporarily halted. This can apply to a single exchange or to a market as a whole, when all of the primary exchanges are closed and/or not trading. Unexpected market/exchange closures are usually due to unforeseen circumstances, such as natural disasters, inclement weather, outages, or other events.

 

To a large degree, S&P is dependent on the exchanges to provide guidance in the event of an unexpected exchange closure. S&P’s decision making is dependent on exchange guidance regarding pricing and mandatory corporate actions.

 

NYSE Rule 123C provides closing contingency procedures for determining an official closing price for listed securities if the exchange is unable to conduct a closing transaction in one or more securities due to a system or technical issue.

 

3:00 PM ET is the deadline for an exchange to determine its plan of action regarding an outage scenario. As such, S&P also uses 3:00 PM ET as the cutoff.

 

If all major exchanges fail to open or unexpectedly halt trading intraday due to unforeseen circumstances, S&P will take the following actions:

 

Market Disruption Prior to Open of Trading:

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(i)

If all exchanges indicate that trading will not open for a given day, S&P will treat the day as an unscheduled market holiday. The decision will be communicated to clients as soon as possible through the normal channels. Indices containing multiple markets will be calculated as normal, provided that at least one market is open that day. Indices which only contain closed markets will not be calculated.

 

(ii)

If exchanges indicate that trading, although delayed, will open for a given day, S&P will begin index calculation when the exchanges open.

 

Market Disruption Intraday:

 

 

(i)

If exchanges indicate that trading will not resume for a given day, the index level will be calculated using prices determined by the exchanges based on NYSE Rule 123C. Intraday index values will continue to use the last traded composite price until the primary exchange publishes official closing prices.

 

“SPDR®” is a registered trademark of Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC (“S&P”) and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC (“Dow Jones”) and have been licensed for use by S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC. The offered notes are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, Dow Jones, S&P or their respective affiliates, and neither S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, Dow Jones, S&P or their respective affiliates make any representation regarding the advisability of investing in the offered notes.


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Historical Closing Prices of the Underlying ETFs

The closing prices of the underlying ETFs have fluctuated in the past and may, in the future, experience significant fluctuations. In particular, the underlying ETFs have recently experienced extreme and unusual volatility. Any historical upward or downward trend in the closing price of any underlying ETF during the period shown below is not an indication that such underlying ETF is more or less likely to increase or decrease at any time during the life of your notes.

You should not take the historical closing prices of an underlying ETF as an indication of the future performance of an underlying ETF, including because of the recent volatility described above.  We cannot give you any assurance that the future performance of any underlying ETF or the underlying ETF stocks will result in you receiving any contingent coupon payments or receiving the outstanding face amount of your notes on the stated maturity date.

Neither we nor any of our affiliates make any representation to you as to the performance of the underlying ETFs.  Before investing in the offered notes, you should consult publicly available information to determine the relevant underlying ETF prices between the date of this prospectus supplement and the date of your purchase of the offered notes and, given the recent volatility described above, you should pay particular attention to recent prices of the underlying ETFs.  The actual performance of an underlying ETF over the life of the offered notes, as well as the cash settlement amount at maturity may bear little relation to the historical prices shown below.

The graphs below show the daily historical closing prices of each underlying ETF from January 1, 2016 through January 22, 2021. As a result, the following graphs do not reflect the global financial crisis which began in 2008, which had a materially negative impact on the price of most equity securities and, as a result, the prices of most equity ETFs.  We obtained the closing prices in the graphs below from Bloomberg Financial Services, without independent verification.


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Historical Performance of the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust

 

Historical Performance of the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF

 


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Correlation of the Underlying ETFs

The graph below shows the historical closing prices of each underlying ETF from January 1, 2016 through January 22, 2021. For comparison purposes, each underlying ETF has been adjusted to have a closing price of 100.00 on January 1, 2016 by dividing the closing price of that underlying ETF on each day by the closing price of that underlying ETF on January 1, 2016 and multiplying by 100.00. We obtained the closing prices used to determine the adjusted closing prices in the graph below from Bloomberg Financial Services, without independent verification. You should not take the historical performance of the underlying ETFs as an indication of the future performance of the underlying ETFs.

Historical Performances of the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust and the SPDR® S&P® Regional Banking ETF

Movements in the values of the underlying ETFs may be correlated or uncorrelated at different times during the term of the notes and, if there is correlation, such correlation may be positive (the underlying ETFs move in the same direction) or negative (the underlying ETFs move in reverse directions). The more similar the movements of the daily returns of the underlying ETFs over the given period, the more positively correlated those underlying ETFs are. The graph above illustrates the historical performance of each underlying ETF relative to the other underlying ETF over the time period shown and provides an indication of how the relative performance of the daily returns of one underlying ETF has historically been to another. However, it is the actual price of the lesser performing underlying ETF (and not the price of historical correlation between the underlying ETFs) that determines the return on your notes.

Please read “Additional Risk Factors Specific to Your Notes—You Are Exposed to the Market Risk of Each Underlying ETF” on page S-19 of this prospectus supplement.


 

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Supplemental Discussion of Federal Income Tax Consequences

The following section supplements the discussion of U.S. federal income taxation in the accompanying prospectus.

The following section is the opinion of Sidley Austin llp, counsel to GS Finance Corp. and The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.  In addition, it is the opinion of Sidley Austin llp that the characterization of the notes for U.S. federal income tax purposes that will be required under the terms of the notes, as discussed below, is a reasonable interpretation of current law.

This section does not apply to you if you are a member of a class of holders subject to special rules, such as:

a dealer in securities or currencies;

a trader in securities that elects to use a mark-to-market method of accounting for your securities holdings;

a bank;

a life insurance company;

a regulated investment company;

an accrual method taxpayer subject to special tax accounting rules as a result of its use of financial statements;

a tax exempt organization;

a partnership;

a person that owns a note as a hedge or that is hedged against interest rate risks;

a person that owns a note as part of a straddle or conversion transaction for tax purposes; or

a United States holder (as defined below) whose functional currency for tax purposes is not the U.S. dollar.

Although this section is based on the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, its legislative history, existing and proposed regulations under the Internal Revenue Code, published rulings and court decisions, all as currently in effect, no statutory, judicial or administrative authority directly discusses how your notes should be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes, and as a result, the U.S. federal income tax consequences of your investment in your notes are uncertain. Moreover, these laws are subject to change, possibly on a retroactive basis.

You should consult your tax advisor concerning the U.S. federal income tax and other tax consequences of your investment in the notes, including the application of state, local or other tax laws and the possible effects of changes in federal or other tax laws.


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United States Holders

This section applies to you only if you are a United States holder that holds your notes as a capital asset for tax purposes. You are a United States holder if you are a beneficial owner of a note and you are:

a citizen or resident of the United States;

a domestic corporation;

an estate whose income is subject to U.S. federal income tax regardless of its source; or

a trust if a United States court can exercise primary supervision over the trust’s administration and one or more United States persons are authorized to control all substantial decisions of the trust.

Tax Treatment. You will be obligated pursuant to the terms of the notes — in the absence of a change in law, an administrative determination or a judicial ruling to the contrary — to characterize your notes for all tax purposes as income-bearing pre-paid derivative contracts in respect of the underlying ETFs. Except as otherwise stated below, the discussion below assumes that the notes will be so treated.

Contingent coupon payments that you receive should be included in ordinary income at the time you receive the payment or when the payment accrues, in accordance with your regular method of accounting for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

Upon the sale, exchange, redemption or maturity of your notes, you should recognize capital gain or loss equal to the difference between the amount realized on the sale, exchange, redemption or maturity (excluding any amounts attributable to accrued and unpaid contingent coupon payments, which will be taxable as described above) and your tax basis in your notes. Your tax basis in your notes will generally be equal to the amount that you paid for the notes.  Such capital gain or loss should generally be short-term capital gain or loss if you hold the notes for one year or less, and should be long-term capital gain or loss if you hold the notes for more than one year. Short-term capital gains are generally subject to tax at the marginal tax rates applicable to ordinary income.

In addition, the constructive ownership rules of Section 1260 of the Internal Revenue Code could apply to your notes. If your notes were subject to the constructive ownership rules, then any long-term capital gain that you realize upon the sale, exchange, redemption or maturity of your notes would be re-characterized as ordinary income (and you would be subject to an interest charge on deferred tax liability with respect to such re-characterized capital gain) to the extent that such capital gain exceeds the amount of “net underlying long-term capital gain” (as defined in Section 1260 of the Internal Revenue Code). Because the application of the constructive ownership rules is unclear you are strongly urged to consult your tax advisor with respect to the possible application of the constructive ownership rules to your investment in the notes.

No statutory, judicial or administrative authority directly discusses how your notes should be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes. As a result, the U.S. federal income tax consequences of your investment in the notes are uncertain and alternative characterizations are possible. Accordingly, we urge you to consult your tax advisor in determining the tax consequences of an investment in your notes in your particular circumstances, including the application of state, local or other tax laws and the possible effects of changes in federal or other tax laws.

Alternative Treatments.  There is no judicial or administrative authority discussing how your notes should be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Therefore, the Internal Revenue Service might assert that a treatment other than that described above is more appropriate. For example, the Internal Revenue Service could treat your notes as a single debt instrument subject to special rules governing contingent payment debt instruments.

Under those rules, the amount of interest you are required to take into account for each accrual period would be determined by constructing a projected payment schedule for the notes and applying rules

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similar to those for accruing original issue discount on a hypothetical noncontingent debt instrument with that projected payment schedule.  This method is applied by first determining the comparable yield — i.e., the yield at which we would issue a noncontingent fixed rate debt instrument with terms and conditions similar to your notes — and then determining a payment schedule as of the applicable original issue date that would produce the comparable yield. These rules may have the effect of requiring you to include interest in income in respect of your notes prior to your receipt of cash attributable to that income.

If the rules governing contingent payment debt instruments apply, any gain you recognize upon the sale, exchange, redemption or maturity of your notes would be treated as ordinary interest income. Any loss you recognize at that time would be treated as ordinary loss to the extent of interest you included as income in the current or previous taxable years in respect of your notes, and, thereafter, as capital loss.

If the rules governing contingent payment debt instruments apply, special rules would apply to persons who purchase a note at other than the adjusted issue price as determined for tax purposes.

It is possible that the Internal Revenue Service could assert that your notes should generally be characterized as described above, except that (1) the gain you recognize upon the sale, exchange, redemption or maturity of your notes should be treated as ordinary income or (2) you should not include the contingent coupon payments in income as you receive them but instead you should reduce your basis in your notes by the amount of contingent coupon payments that you receive. It is also possible that the Internal Revenue Service could seek to characterize your notes in a manner that results in tax consequences to you different from those described above.

It is also possible that the Internal Revenue Service could seek to characterize your notes as notional principal contracts.  It is also possible that the contingent coupon payments would not be treated as either ordinary income or interest for U.S. federal income tax purposes, but instead would be treated in some other manner.  

You should consult your tax advisor as to possible alternative characterizations of your notes for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

Possible Change in Law

In 2007, legislation was introduced in Congress that, if enacted, would have required holders that acquired instruments such as your notes after the bill was enacted to accrue interest income over the term of such instruments even though there may be no interest payments over the term of such instruments.  It is not possible to predict whether a similar or identical bill will be enacted in the future, or whether any such bill would affect the tax treatment of your notes.

In addition, on December 7, 2007, the Internal Revenue Service released a notice stating that the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department are actively considering issuing guidance regarding the proper U.S. federal income tax treatment of an instrument such as the offered notes including whether the holders should be required to accrue ordinary income on a current basis and whether gain or loss should be ordinary or capital. It is not possible to determine what guidance they will ultimately issue, if any. It is possible, however, that under such guidance, holders of the notes will ultimately be required to accrue income currently and this could be applied on a retroactive basis.  The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department are also considering other relevant issues, including whether foreign holders of such instruments should be subject to withholding tax on any deemed income accruals, and whether the special “constructive ownership rules” of Section 1260 of the Internal Revenue Code might be applied to such instruments.  Except to the extent otherwise provided by law, GS Finance Corp. intends to continue treating the notes for U.S. federal income tax purposes in accordance with the treatment described above unless and until such time as Congress, the Treasury Department or the Internal Revenue Service determine that some other treatment is more appropriate.

It is impossible to predict what any such legislation or administrative or regulatory guidance might provide, and whether the effective date of any legislation or guidance will affect notes that were issued before the date that such legislation or guidance is issued.  You are urged to consult your tax advisor as to the

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possibility that any legislative or administrative action may adversely affect the tax treatment of your notes.

United States Alien Holders

This section applies to you only if you are a United States alien holder.  You are a United States alien holder if you are the beneficial owner of the notes and are, for U.S. federal income tax purposes:

a nonresident alien individual;

a foreign corporation; or

an estate or trust that in either case is not subject to U.S. federal income tax on a net income basis on income or gain from the notes.

Because the U.S. federal income tax treatment (including the applicability of withholding) of the contingent coupon payments on the notes is uncertain, in the absence of further guidance, we intend to withhold on the contingent coupon payments made to you at a 30% rate or at a lower rate specified by an applicable income tax treaty under an “other income” or similar provision. We will not make payments of any additional amounts. To claim a reduced treaty rate for withholding, you generally must provide a valid Internal Revenue Service Form W-8BEN, Internal Revenue Service Form W-8BEN-E, or an acceptable substitute form upon which you certify, under penalty of perjury, your status as a United States alien holder and your entitlement to the lower treaty rate. Payments will be made to you at a reduced treaty rate of withholding only if such reduced treaty rate would apply to any possible characterization of the payments (including, for example, if the contingent coupon payments were characterized as contract fees). Withholding also may not apply to contingent coupon payments made to you if: (i) the contingent coupon payments are “effectively connected” with your conduct of a trade or business in the United States and are includable in your gross income for U.S. federal income tax purposes, (ii) the contingent coupon payments are attributable to a permanent establishment that you maintain in the United States, if required by an applicable tax treaty, and (iii) you comply with the requisite certification requirements (generally, by providing an Internal Revenue Service Form W-8ECI). If you are eligible for a reduced rate of United States withholding tax, you may obtain a refund of any amounts withheld in excess of that rate by filing a refund claim with the Internal Revenue Service.

“Effectively connected” payments includable in your United States gross income are generally taxed at rates applicable to United States citizens, resident aliens, and domestic corporations; if you are a corporate United States alien holder, “effectively connected” payments may be subject to an additional “branch profits tax” under certain circumstances.

You will also be subject to generally applicable information reporting and backup withholding requirements with respect to payments on your notes and, notwithstanding that we do not intend to treat the notes as debt for tax purposes, we intend to backup withhold on such payments with respect to your notes unless you comply with the requirements necessary to avoid backup withholding on debt instruments (in which case you will not be subject to such backup withholding) as set forth under “United States Taxation – Taxation of Debt Securities – Non United States Holders” in the accompanying prospectus.  

Furthermore, on December 7, 2007, the Internal Revenue Service released Notice 2008-2 soliciting comments from the public on various issues, including whether instruments such as your notes should be subject to withholding. It is therefore possible that rules will be issued in the future, possibly with retroactive effect, that would cause payments on your notes to be subject to withholding, even if you comply with certification requirements as to your foreign status.

As discussed above, alternative characterizations of the notes for U.S. federal income tax purposes are possible.  Should an alternative characterization of the notes, by reason of a change or clarification of the law, by regulation or otherwise, cause payments with respect to the notes to become subject to withholding tax, we will withhold tax at the applicable statutory rate and we will not make payments of any

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additional amounts. Prospective United States alien holders of the notes should consult their tax advisors in this regard.

In addition, the Treasury Department has issued regulations under which amounts paid or deemed paid on certain financial instruments (“871(m) financial instruments”) that are treated as attributable to U.S.-source dividends could be treated, in whole or in part depending on the circumstances, as a “dividend equivalent” payment that is subject to tax at a rate of 30% (or a lower rate under an applicable treaty), which in the case of any contingent coupon payments and any amounts you receive upon the sale, exchange, redemption or maturity of your notes, could be collected via withholding. If these regulations were to apply to the notes, we may be required to withhold such taxes if any U.S.-source dividends are paid on the underlying ETFs during the term of the notes. We could also require you to make certifications (e.g., an applicable Internal Revenue Service Form W-8) prior to any contingent coupon payment or the maturity of the notes in order to avoid or minimize withholding obligations, and we could withhold accordingly (subject to your potential right to claim a refund from the Internal Revenue Service) if such certifications were not received or were not satisfactory. If withholding was required, we would not be required to pay any additional amounts with respect to amounts so withheld. These regulations generally will apply to 871(m) financial instruments (or a combination of financial instruments treated as having been entered into in connection with each other) issued (or significantly modified and treated as retired and reissued) on or after January 1, 2023, but will also apply to certain 871(m) financial instruments (or a combination of financial instruments treated as having been entered into in connection with each other) that have a delta (as defined in the applicable Treasury regulations) of one and are issued (or significantly modified and treated as retired and reissued) on or after January 1, 2017.  In addition, these regulations will not apply to financial instruments that reference a “qualified index” (as defined in the regulations).  We have determined that, as of the issue date of your notes, your notes will not be subject to withholding under these rules.  In certain limited circumstances, however, you should be aware that it is possible for United States alien holders to be liable for tax under these rules with respect to a combination of transactions treated as having been entered into in connection with each other even when no withholding is required.  You should consult your tax advisor concerning these regulations, subsequent official guidance and regarding any other possible alternative characterizations of your notes for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) Withholding

Pursuant to Treasury regulations, Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) withholding (as described in “United States Taxation—Taxation of Debt Securities—Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) Withholding” in the accompanying prospectus) will generally apply to obligations that are issued on or after July 1, 2014; therefore, the notes will generally be subject to the FATCA withholding rules.


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Employee Retirement Income Security Act

This section is only relevant to you if you are an insurance company or the fiduciary of a pension plan or an employee benefit plan (including a governmental plan, an IRA or a Keogh Plan) proposing to invest in the notes.

The U.S. Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”) and the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), prohibit certain transactions (“prohibited transactions”) involving the assets of an employee benefit plan that is subject to the fiduciary responsibility provisions of ERISA or Section 4975 of the Code (including individual retirement accounts, Keogh plans and other plans described in Section 4975(e)(1) of the Code) (a “Plan”) and certain persons who are “parties in interest” (within the meaning of ERISA) or “disqualified persons” (within the meaning of the Code) with respect to the Plan; governmental plans may be subject to similar prohibitions unless an exemption applies to the transaction. The assets of a Plan may include assets held in the general account of an insurance company that are deemed “plan assets” under ERISA or assets of certain investment vehicles in which the Plan invests. Each of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. and certain of its affiliates may be considered a “party in interest” or a “disqualified person” with respect to many Plans, and, accordingly, prohibited transactions may arise if the notes are acquired by or on behalf of a Plan unless those notes are acquired and held pursuant to an available exemption. In general, available exemptions include: transactions effected on behalf of that Plan by a “qualified professional asset manager” (prohibited transaction exemption 84-14) or an “in-house asset manager” (prohibited transaction exemption 96-23), transactions involving insurance company general accounts (prohibited transaction exemption 95-60), transactions involving insurance company pooled separate accounts (prohibited transaction exemption 90‑1), transactions involving bank collective investment funds (prohibited transaction exemption 91-38) and transactions with service providers under Section 408(b)(17) of ERISA and Section 4975(d)(20) of the Code where the Plan receives no less and pays no more than “adequate consideration” (within the meaning of Section 408(b)(17) of ERISA and Section 4975(f)(10) of the Code). The person making the decision on behalf of a Plan or a governmental plan shall be deemed, on behalf of itself and the plan, by purchasing and holding the notes, or exercising any rights related thereto, to represent that (a) the plan will receive no less and pay no more than “adequate consideration” (within the meaning of Section 408(b)(17) of ERISA and Section 4975(f)(10) of the Code) in connection with the purchase and holding of the notes, (b) none of the purchase, holding or disposition of the notes or the exercise of any rights related to the notes will result in a nonexempt prohibited transaction under ERISA or the Code (or, with respect to a governmental plan, under any similar applicable law or regulation), and (c) neither The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. nor any of its affiliates is a “fiduciary” (within the meaning of Section 3(21) of ERISA) or, with respect to a governmental plan, under any similar applicable law or regulation) with respect to the purchaser or holder in connection with such person's acquisition, disposition or holding of the notes, or as a result of any exercise by The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. or any of its affiliates of any rights in connection with the notes, and neither The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. nor any of its affiliates has provided investment advice in connection with such person’s acquisition, disposition or holding of the notes.

If you are an insurance company or the fiduciary of a pension plan or an employee benefit plan (including a governmental plan, an IRA or a Keogh plan), and propose to invest in the notes, you should consult your legal counsel.

 

 

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Supplemental Plan of Distribution

GS Finance Corp. will sell to GS&Co., and GS&Co. will purchase from GS Finance Corp., the aggregate face amount of the offered notes specified on the front cover of this prospectus supplement.  GS&Co. proposes initially to offer the notes to the public at the original issue price set forth on the cover page of this prospectus supplement, and to UBS Financial Services Inc. at such price less a concession not in excess of 2.00% of the face amount.

In connection with the initial offering of the notes, the minimum face amount of notes that may be purchased by any investor is $1,000.

In the future, GS&Co. or other affiliates of GS Finance Corp. may repurchase and resell the offered notes in market-making transactions, with resales being made at prices related to prevailing market prices at the time of resale or at negotiated prices. GS Finance Corp. estimates that its share of the total offering expenses, excluding underwriting discounts and commissions, will be approximately $20,000.  For more information about the plan of distribution and possible market-making activities, see “Plan of Distribution” in the accompanying prospectus.

We will deliver the notes against payment therefor in New York, New York on January 27, 2021. Under Rule 15c6-1 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, trades in the secondary market generally are required to settle in two business days, unless the parties to any such trade expressly agree otherwise. Accordingly, purchasers who wish to trade notes on any date prior to two business days before delivery will be required to specify alternative settlement arrangements to prevent a failed settlement.

We have been advised by GS&Co. that it intends to make a market in the notes. However, neither GS&Co. nor any of our other affiliates that makes a market is obligated to do so and any of them may stop doing so at any time without notice. No assurance can be given as to the liquidity or trading market for the notes.

Any notes which are the subject of the offering contemplated by this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and the accompanying prospectus supplement may not be offered, sold or otherwise made available to any retail investor in the European Economic Area or in the United Kingdom (each, a “Relevant State”). Consequently no key information document required by Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 (the “PRIIPs Regulation”) for offering or selling the notes or otherwise making them available to retail investors in any Relevant State has been prepared and therefore offering or selling the notes or otherwise making them available to any retail investor in any Relevant State may be unlawful under the PRIIPs Regulation. For the purposes of this provision:

 

a)

the expression “retail investor” means a person who is one (or more) of the following:

 

(i)

a retail client as defined in point (11) of Article 4(1) of Directive 2014/65/EU (as amended, “MiFID II”); or

 

(ii)

a customer within the meaning of Directive (EU) 2016/97 (the Insurance Distribution Directive), where that customer would not qualify as a professional client as defined in point (10) of Article 4(1) of MiFID II; or

 

(iii)

not a qualified investor as defined in Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 (the “Prospectus Regulation”); and

 

b)

the expression an “offer” includes the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer and the notes to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to purchase or subscribe for the notes.

Any invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity (within the meaning of Section 21 of the FSMA) in connection with the issue or sale of the notes may only be communicated or caused to be communicated in circumstances in which Section 21(1) of the FSMA does not apply to GS Finance Corp. or The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.

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All applicable provisions of the FSMA must be complied with in respect to anything done by any person in relation to the notes in, from or otherwise involving the United Kingdom.

The notes may not be offered or sold in Hong Kong by means of any document other than (i) to “professional investors” as defined in the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571 of the Laws of Hong Kong) and any rules made thereunder, or (ii) in other circumstances which do not result in the document being a “prospectus” as defined in the Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance (Cap. 32 of the Laws of Hong Kong) or which do not constitute an offer to the public within the meaning of that Ordinance; and no advertisement, invitation or document relating to the notes may be issued or may be in the possession of any person for the purpose of issue (in each case whether in Hong Kong or elsewhere) which is directed at, or the contents of which are likely to be accessed or read by, the public in Hong Kong (except if permitted to do so under the securities laws of Hong Kong) other than with respect to the notes which are or are intended to be disposed of only to persons outside Hong Kong or only to “professional investors” as defined in the Securities and Futures Ordinance and any rules made thereunder.

This prospectus supplement, along with the accompanying prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus have not been registered as a prospectus with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Accordingly, this prospectus supplement, along with the accompanying prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus and any other document or material in connection with the offer or sale, or invitation for subscription or purchase, of the notes may not be circulated or distributed, nor may the notes be offered or sold, or be made the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase, whether directly or indirectly, to persons in Singapore other than (i) to an institutional investor (as defined in Section 4A of the Securities and Futures Act, Chapter 289 of Singapore (the “SFA”)) under Section 274 of the SFA, (ii) to a relevant person (as defined in Section 275(2) of the SFA) pursuant to Section 275(1) of the SFA, or any person pursuant to Section 275(1A) of the SFA, and in accordance with the conditions specified in Section 275 of the SFA or (iii) otherwise pursuant to, and in accordance with the conditions of, any other applicable provision of the SFA, in each case subject to conditions set forth in the SFA. 

Where the notes are subscribed or purchased under Section 275 of the SFA by a relevant person which is a corporation (which is not an accredited investor (as defined in Section 4A of the SFA)) the sole business of which is to hold investments and the entire share capital of which is owned by one or more individuals, each of whom is an accredited investor, the securities (as defined in Section 239(1) of the SFA) of that corporation shall not be transferable for six months after that corporation has acquired the notes under Section 275 of the SFA except: (1) to an institutional investor under Section 274 of the SFA or to a relevant person (as defined in Section 275(2) of the SFA), (2) where such transfer arises from an offer in that corporation’s securities pursuant to Section 275(1A) of the SFA, (3) where no consideration is or will be given for the transfer, (4) where the transfer is by operation of law, (5) as specified in Section 276(7) of the SFA, or (6) as specified in Regulation 32 of the Securities and Futures (Offers of Investments) (Shares and Debentures) Regulations 2005 of Singapore (“Regulation 32”).

Where the notes are subscribed or purchased under Section 275 of the SFA by a relevant person which is a trust (where the trustee is not an accredited investor (as defined in Section 4A of the SFA)) whose sole purpose is to hold investments and each beneficiary of the trust is an accredited investor, the beneficiaries’ rights and interest (howsoever described) in that trust shall not be transferable for six months after that trust has acquired the notes under Section 275 of the SFA except: (1) to an institutional investor under Section 274 of the SFA or to a relevant person (as defined in Section 275(2) of the SFA), (2) where such transfer arises from an offer that is made on terms that such rights or interest are acquired at a consideration of not less than S$200,000 (or its equivalent in a foreign currency) for each transaction (whether such amount is to be paid for in cash or by exchange of securities or other assets), (3) where no consideration is or will be given for the transfer, (4) where the transfer is by operation of law, (5) as specified in Section 276(7) of the SFA, or (6) as specified in Regulation 32.

The notes have not been and will not be registered under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act of Japan (Act No. 25 of 1948, as amended), or the FIEA. The notes may not be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, in Japan or to or for the benefit of any resident of Japan (including any person resident in Japan or any corporation or other entity organized under the laws of Japan) or to others for reoffering or resale, directly or indirectly, in Japan or to or for the benefit of any resident of Japan, except pursuant to an

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exemption from the registration requirements of the FIEA and otherwise in compliance with any relevant laws and regulations of Japan.

The notes are not offered, sold or advertised, directly or indirectly, in, into or from Switzerland on the basis of a public offering and will not be listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange or any other offering or regulated trading facility in Switzerland. Accordingly, neither this prospectus supplement nor any accompanying prospectus supplement, prospectus or other marketing material constitute a prospectus as defined in article 652a or article 1156 of the Swiss Code of Obligations or a listing prospectus as defined in article 32 of the Listing Rules of the SIX Swiss Exchange or any other regulated trading facility in Switzerland. Any resales of the notes by the underwriters thereof may only be undertaken on a private basis to selected individual investors in compliance with Swiss law. This prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus and prospectus supplement may not be copied, reproduced, distributed or passed on to others or otherwise made available in Switzerland without our prior written consent. By accepting this prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus and prospectus supplement or by subscribing to the notes, investors are deemed to have acknowledged and agreed to abide by these restrictions. Investors are advised to consult with their financial, legal or tax advisers before investing in the notes.

Conflicts of Interest

GS&Co. is an affiliate of GS Finance Corp. and The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. and, as such, will have a “conflict of interest” in this offering of notes within the meaning of Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA) Rule 5121. Consequently, this offering of notes will be conducted in compliance with the provisions of FINRA Rule 5121. GS&Co. will not be permitted to sell notes in this offering to an account over which it exercises discretionary authority without the prior specific written approval of the account holder.

 


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VALIDITY OF THE NOTES AND GUARANTEE

In the opinion of Sidley Austin llp, as counsel to GS Finance Corp. and The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., when the notes offered by this prospectus supplement have been executed and issued by GS Finance Corp., such notes have been authenticated by the trustee pursuant to the indenture, and such notes have been delivered against payment as contemplated herein, (a) such notes will be valid and binding obligations of GS Finance Corp., enforceable in accordance with their terms, subject to applicable bankruptcy, insolvency and similar laws affecting creditors’ rights generally, concepts of reasonableness and equitable principles of general applicability (including, without limitation, concepts of good faith, fair dealing and the lack of bad faith), provided that such counsel expresses no opinion as to the effect of fraudulent conveyance, fraudulent transfer or similar provision of applicable law on the conclusions expressed above and (b) the guarantee with respect to such notes will be a valid and binding obligation of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., enforceable in accordance with its terms, subject to applicable bankruptcy, insolvency and similar laws affecting creditors' rights generally, concepts of reasonableness and equitable principles of general applicability (including, without limitation, concepts of good faith, fair dealing and the lack of bad faith), provided that such counsel expresses no opinion as to the effect of fraudulent conveyance, fraudulent transfer or similar provision of applicable law on the conclusions expressed above. This opinion is given as of the date hereof and is limited to the laws of the State of New York and the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware as in effect on the date hereof. In addition, this opinion is subject to customary assumptions about the trustee’s authorization, execution and delivery of the indenture and the genuineness of signatures and certain factual matters, all as stated in the letter of such counsel dated July 1, 2020, which has been filed as Exhibit 5.6 to the registration statement on Form S-3 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by GS Finance Corp. and The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. on July 1, 2020.

 

 

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We have not authorized anyone to provide any information or to make any representations other than those contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus.  We take no responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you.  This prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus is an offer to sell only the notes offered hereby, but only under circumstances and in jurisdictions where it is lawful to do so.  The information contained in this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus is current only as of the respective dates of such documents.  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

Page

Summary Information

S-5

Hypothetical Examples

S-9

Additional Risk Factors Specific to Your Notes

S-15

Specific Terms of Your Notes

S-29

Use of Proceeds

S-39

Hedging

S-39

The Underlying ETFs

S-40

Supplemental Discussion of U.S. Federal Income Tax Consequences

S-60

Employee Retirement Income Security Act

S-65

Supplemental Plan of Distribution

S-66

Conflicts of Interest

S-68

Validity of the Notes and Guarantee

S-69

Prospectus Supplement dated July 1, 2020

Use of Proceeds

S-2

Description of Notes We May Offer

S-3

Considerations Relating to Indexed Notes

S-11

United States Taxation

S-14

Employee Retirement Income Security Act

S-15

Supplemental Plan of Distribution

S-16

Validity of the Notes and Guarantees

S-18

Prospectus dated July 1, 2020

Available Information

2

Prospectus Summary

4

Risks Relating to Regulatory Resolution Strategies and Long-Term Debt Requirements

9

Use of Proceeds 

14

Description of Debt Securities We May Offer

15

Description of Warrants We May Offer

71

Description of Units We May Offer

87

GS Finance Corp.

92

Legal Ownership and Book-Entry Issuance

94

Considerations Relating to Indexed Securities

103

Considerations Relating to Securities Denominated or Payable in or Linked to a Non-U.S. Dollar Currency

104

United States Taxation

107

Plan of Distribution

122

    Conflicts of Interest

125

Employee Retirement Income Security Act

126

Validity of the Securities and Guarantees

127

Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

127

Cautionary Statement Pursuant to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

128

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

$25,349,240



GS Finance Corp.





Trigger Autocallable Contingent Yield Notes due 2024


guaranteed by

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.






____________


____________


Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC

UBS Financial Services Inc.

Selling Agent