Marcus by Goldman Sachs Leverages Technology and Legacy of Financial Expertise in Dynamic Consumer Finance Platform

In 2016, Goldman Sachs launches Marcus by Goldman Sachs, an online platform offering personal loans and savings accounts to retail clients.

In 2016, Goldman Sachs launched its consumer business, Marcus by Goldman Sachs, offering products and services designed to address consumer pain points regarding finance. Named after the firm’s founder, the Marcus platform combines the freshness of a digital offering with the strength and heritage of the firm, leveraging core competencies in risk management and technology.

As one of the few large banks without a legacy consumer business or infrastructure, Goldman Sachs was uniquely positioned to redefine how financial services are distributed and consumed.

The Marcus platform, user experience and products were based on extensive research and direct feedback from consumers regarding their frustrations with consumer finance — confusing jargon, inflexible products and hidden fees. Over time, the Marcus teams heard from more than 100,000 consumers, incorporating their insights into building Marcus products that are simple and transparent.

The firm made the decision to enter the consumer finance sector in 2015. In April 2016, Goldman Sachs Bank USA (GS Bank USA) acquired GE Capital Bank’s US online deposit platform — a transaction that doubled the firm’s client count. This enabled the firm to provide an online bank for retail customers, offering savings products. Later that year, the firm launched the Marcus platform, initially offering no-fee unsecured personal loans.

By the end of 2017, Marcus’ online lending platform originated US$2 billion in loans, and the firm integrated GS Bank USA’s online deposit platform under the Marcus brand. In April 2018, GS Bank USA acquired Clarity Money, Inc., a personal finance management app offering actionable insights, and welcomed the more than one million Clarity Money customers to the Marcus family. Later that year, Goldman Sachs launched a Marcus online savings platform in the United Kingdom, expanding its consumer footprint internationally.

Most recently, in August 2019, Apple Card launched in the United States, the result of an innovative collaboration between the Marcus team and Apple, offering the first credit card product issued by Goldman Sachs in its 150-year history.

Since launch, Marcus has grown into a multiproduct platform, with US$50 billion in deposits, US$5 billion in consumer loan balances and four million customers in the United States and the United Kingdom — all without the traditional brick-and-mortar branch model.

With the Marcus platform, the firm is focused on developing an enduring consumer franchise and helping millions of consumers take control of their financial lives. As Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO David Solomon explained, “We have the ambition to build a large, differentiated, highly profitable digital consumer platform.”

 

This article was originally published as part of a series commemorating the 150th anniversary of Goldman Sachs’ founding in 1869.