After Goldman Sachs saw deposits surge past the legal limits earlier this week, the bank has shut down its digital banking brand Marcus to new customer in the UK. And now they might split in two.
Reuters broke the story, revealing that Goldman Sachs made the decision to shut down for new signups as it was close to breaking the British rules about processing retail deposits worth more than £25bn in total.
The UK’s ring-fencing rules would require Marcus to become a separate entity from its parent company, with its own board and a limit to how much it shares with the rest of Goldman Sachs, Reuters explained.
Executives at Goldman Sachs are now considering whether or not to split the two brands into two separate entities, saying that it “would be a significant change to our low-cost business model, which allows us to pay consistently competitive rates to existing savers.”
Sankar Krishnan, executive vice president and industry head of banking and capital markets at Capgemini, the tech and management consultancy, welcomed the move.
“Marcus has been a tremendous success in both the US and UK and arguably was the fastest one-click experience for opening a bank account, a certificate of deposit or a fixed deposit,” said Krishnan.
“The success of the app and its ability to attract billions in deposits must be commended. A temporary pause is a good thing for Marcus’ executives to reset their strategy and explore new opportunities to better service their customers. This is good news as it further enforces the drive to digital, which is especially important during and after the current Covid-19 environment.”
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