Risks Relating to Hedging Activities and Conflicts of Interest
Hedging activities by the Bank and GS&Co. may negatively impact investors in the notes and cause our respective interests and those of our clients and counterparties to be contrary to those of investors in the notes
The Bank, GS&Co. or one or more of our or their respective affiliates has hedged or expects to hedge the obligations under the notes by purchasing shares of the reference asset and/or options or futures or other instruments linked to the reference asset. The Bank, GS&Co. or one or more of our or their respective affiliates also expects to adjust the hedge by, among other things, purchasing or selling any of the foregoing, and perhaps other instruments linked to the reference asset, at any time and from time to time, and to unwind the hedge by selling any of the foregoing on or before the valuation date.
The Bank, GS&Co. or one or more of our or their respective affiliates may also enter into, adjust and unwind hedging transactions relating to other equity-linked notes whose returns are linked to changes in the price of the reference asset. Any of these hedging activities may adversely affect the price of the reference asset and, therefore the market value of the notes and the amount you will receive on the notes. Because the dealer, or an affiliate, from which you purchase notes is to conduct hedging activities for us in connection with the notes, that dealer or affiliate may profit in connection with such hedging activities and such profit, if any, will be in addition to the compensation that the dealer, or an affiliate, 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 dealer to sell the notes to you in addition to the compensation they would receive for the sale of the notes. In addition, you should expect that these transactions will cause the Bank, GS&Co. or our or their respective affiliates, or our or their respective clients or counterparties, 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. The Bank, GS&Co. or our or their respective affiliates will have no 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 with respect to these hedging activities while the market value of, and return on, the notes may decline.
The Bank, SCUSA, GS&Co. and our or their respective affiliates regularly provide services to, or otherwise have business relationships with, a broad client base, which has included and may include us and the reference asset issuer and the market activities by the Bank, GS&Co. or our or their respective affiliates for our or their own respective accounts or for our or their respective clients could negatively impact investors in the notes
We, GS&Co. and our or their respective affiliates regularly provide a wide range of financial services, including financial advisory, investment advisory and transactional services to a substantial and diversified client base. As such, we each may act as an investor, investment banker, research provider, investment manager, investment advisor, market maker, trader, prime broker or lender. In those and other capacities, we, GS&Co. and/or our or their respective affiliates purchase, sell or hold a broad array of investments, actively trade securities (including the notes or other securities that we have issued), the reference asset, derivatives, loans, credit default swaps, indices, baskets and other financial instruments and products for our or their own respective accounts or for the accounts of our or their respective customers, and we will have other direct or indirect interests, in those securities and in other markets that may not be consistent with your interests and may adversely affect the price of the reference asset and/or the value of the notes. You should assume that we or they will, at present or in the future, provide such services or otherwise engage in transactions with, among others, us and the reference asset issuer, or transact in securities or instruments or with parties that are directly or indirectly related to these entities. 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. Any of these financial market activities may, individually or in the aggregate, have an adverse effect on the price of the reference asset, including the initial price of the reference asset, and the market for your notes, and you should expect that our interests and those of GS&Co. and/or our or their respective affiliates, clients or counterparties, will at times be adverse to those of investors in the notes.
You should expect that we, GS&Co. and our or their respective affiliates, in providing these services, engaging in such transactions, or acting for our or their own respective accounts, may take actions that have direct or indirect effects on the notes or other securities that we may issue, the reference asset or other securities or instruments similar to or linked to the foregoing, and that such actions could be adverse to the interests of investors in the notes. In addition, in connection with these activities, certain personnel within the Bank, GS&Co. or our or their respective affiliates may have access to confidential material non-public information about these parties that would not be disclosed to investors in the notes.