UK Retail Bank ‘Marcus’ Launched by Goldman Sachs
(24 August 2018 - UK) Goldman Sachs has launched its retail bank, ‘Marcus’, offering customers simplified access to British online savings accounts. Named after the investment bank’s original founder Marcus Goldman, Marcus is currently only open to GS employees but will be released country wide through H2 2018. The retail operation is the first of its kind for GS in the UK, heralding a change in strategic direction for the group.
The retail bank is set to offer an initial interest rate of 1.5 percent however in an internal memo Goldman Sachs management advised staff to note “the current interest rate offered may be subject to change for the nationwide launch, depending on market conditions”. The 1.5 per cent introductory rate sets Marcus apart from the easy access savings accounts on offer to UK consumers – according to MoneySavingExpert.com, the next best rate can be found at Bank of Cyprus UK, where account holders enjoy a rate of 1.41 per cent. Goldman Sachs employs more than 6,000 staff in the UK. Marcus launched in the US in 2016 as an online only offering, providing personal loans and savings accounts to retail customers. The group has since accumulated over US$20 billion in deposits. In 2018 Goldman Sachs hired 150 extra staff in preparation for the launch of its retail arm in the UK. Marcus UK will be led by Des McDaid, a director at TSB for three years before joining Goldman Sachs in 2017.
Marcus By Goldman Sachs offers loan types including Debt Consolidation, Credit Card Consolidation, Online Loans, Unsecured Loans and Home Improvement Loans along with savings products including High Yield Savings and High Yield CDs. “The launch of Marcus in the UK represents an important milestone in the growth of Goldman Sachs’s consumer business, as well as continued diversification of the firm’s funding. Our initial offering aligns to one of Marcus’s core tenets, offering transparent, simple and easy to use products that provide value,” the bank said. Goldman Sachs has confirmed David Solomon will take over as CEO when incumbent chief Lloyd Blankfein steps down in September after leading GS for 12 years, making him one of the financial world’s longest-running CEOs. He will also step down as chairman at the end of the year.
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