INVESTMENTCONSIDERATIONSThe following is a summary of certain aspects of the Capital Securities of which prospective investors shouldbe aware. This summary is not intended to be exhaustive and prospective investors should carefully considerthis summary in conjunction with the other information contained in this document.DeferralThe <strong>Bank</strong> may elect to defer any Coupon Payment on the Capital Securities if, in its sole discretion, itdetermines that, on the 20th business day prior to the date on which such Coupon Payment would, in theabsence of deferral, be due and payable, the Deferral Condition is satisfied, as more particularlydescribed in "Terms and Conditions of the Capital Securities - 4. Deferrals". If the <strong>Bank</strong> does defer aCoupon Payment, such Deferred Coupon Payment will be satisfied only on the date when the CapitalSecurities are redeemed. If the <strong>Bank</strong> does defer a Coupon Payment, the <strong>Bank</strong> and the Parent will beprohibited from making or allowing payments on, or redeeming, purchasing or otherwise acquiring, itsordinary share capital or directly or indirectly issued preference or preferred securities or other issuedTier 1 securities until the <strong>Bank</strong> next makes a Coupon Payment.Perpetual securitiesThe <strong>Bank</strong> is under no obligation to redeem the Capital Securities at any time and the Holders have noright to call for their redemption.Redemption and ExchangeriskThe Capital Securities may, subject to the prior consent of the FSA, be redeemed in whole, but notin part, at their principal amount together with accrued Outstanding Payments at the option of the<strong>Bank</strong> in the event that it is required to pay additional amounts as provided in "Terms and Conditionsof the Capital Securities — 11. Taxation". In addition, upon the occurrence of certain specified taxand regulatory events, the Capital Securities may be exchanged or their terms varied so that theybecome Upper Tier 2 Securities, or, if that or any other such specified tax or regulatory event or anysuch requirement to pay additional amounts applies or would apply to the Upper Tier 2 Securities,the Capital Securities may, subject to the consent of the FSA, be redeemed at their outstandingprincipal amount together with any Outstanding Payments all as more particularly described in"Terms and Conditions of the Capital Securities - 7. Exchange for Upper Tier 2 Securities, Variationor Redemption".No limitation on issuing debtSave as provided in "Terms and Conditions of the Capital Securities - 2. Status - (b)(iii) Senior Tier 1Securities", there is no restriction on the amount of debt which the <strong>Bank</strong> may issue which ranks seniorto the Capital Securities or on the amount of securities which the <strong>Bank</strong> may issue which ranks pari passuwith the Capital Securities. The issue of any such debt or securities may reduce the amount recoverableby Holders on a winding-up of the <strong>Bank</strong> or may increase the likelihood of a deferral of Payments underthe Capital Securities.Availability of sharesDeferred Coupon Payments may only be satisfied by the <strong>Bank</strong> pursuant to the alternative couponsatisfaction mechanism described above and only at such time as the Capital Securities are redeemed bythe <strong>Bank</strong>. In the event that the number of ordinary shares of the <strong>Bank</strong> or the Parent, as the case may be,is insufficient for the purposes of the alternative coupon satisfaction mechanism to enable satisfaction ofany such Deferred Coupon Payments in full, the date of redemption of the Capital Securities shall bepostponed until the date upon which the <strong>Bank</strong> is able, pursuant to the alternative coupon satisfactionmechanism, to do so.Market Disruption EventIf, following a decision by the <strong>Bank</strong> to satisfy a payment using the alternative coupon satisfactionmechanism, in the opinion of the <strong>Bank</strong> a Market Disruption Event in respect of the Parent's ordinaryshares exists, the payment to Holders may be deferred until the cessation of such market disruption, asmore particularly described in "Terms and Conditions of the Capital Securities - 6. Alternative CouponSatisfaction Mechanism - (e) Market Disruption". Any such deferred payments shall bear interest at therate of 6.90 per cent. per annum if the Market Disruption Event continues for 14 days or more.8
Restricted remedy for non-paymentIn accordance with the FSA's requirements for subordinated capital, the sole remedy against the <strong>Bank</strong>available to the Trustee or any Holder for recovery of amounts owing in respect of any Payment orprincipal in respect of the Capital Securities will be the institution of proceedings for the winding-up ofthe <strong>Bank</strong> and/or proving in such winding-up and the Holder's claim in such winding-up shall be limitedto the principal amount of the relevant Capital Security (and no amounts will be payable in respect ofany Coupon including any Deferred Coupon Payment).Set-offSubject to applicable law, no Holder or Couponholder may exercise or claim any right of set-off inrespect of any amount owed to it by the <strong>Bank</strong> arising under or in connection with the Capital Securitiesor the Coupons and each Holder and Couponholder shall, by virtue of being the bearer of any CapitalSecurity or Coupon, be deemed to have waived all such rights of set-off.Absence of prior public marketsThe Capital Securities constitute a new issue of securities by the <strong>Bank</strong>. Prior to this issue, there will havebeen no public market for the Capital Securities. Although application has been made to the UK ListingAuthority under the FSMA for the Capital Securities to be admitted to the Official List and to theLondon Stock Exchange for the Capital Securities to be admitted to trading on the London StockExchange's market for listed securities, there can be no assurance that an active public market for theCapital Securities will develop and, if such a market were to develop, Goldman Sachs International areunder no obligation to maintain such a market. The liquidity and the market prices for the CapitalSecurities can be expected to vary with changes in market and economic conditions, the financialcondition and prospects of the <strong>Bank</strong> and other factors that generally influence the market prices ofsecurities.9