Goldman Sachs’s finance chief sought to shed light on the Wall Street firm’s investing and lending activities, a sprawling portfolio that has drawn occasional scrutiny from shareholders for its volatile and opaque results.

Speaking at a Bank of America Merrill Lynch conference, Goldman's Harvey Schwartz said on November 17 that loans and other debt holdings comprised some 75% of the firm's $91 billion portfolio at the end of the third quarter, up from 47% in the fourth quarter of 2010.