Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) has announced that it will launch its online retail bank in the UK in coming weeks.
The bank, named Marcus after the Goldman Sachs founder, will be open to the Wall Street giant’s UK employees before its official launch. Marcus is being led by Des McDaid, who was director of savings and loans at TSB.
"Marcus by Goldman Sachs, which first launched in 2016 in the US, will now extend its product offering to include easy-access online savings account for UK retail customers,” a memo signed by a number of executives, including Goldman Sachs International chief executive Richard Snodde, said.
"Ahead of the nationwide launch of our Marcus savings platform, we are pleased to offer exclusive access to Goldman Sachs employees, providing an opportunity to hear your feedback before officially going to market."
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The launch of Marcus, which currently has 150 employees in the UK, comes as Goldman Sachs seeks new sources of income to offset the squeeze of tighter regulation on profits. It is a major change of direction for Goldman Sachs, which has long focused on its investment bank.
Since Goldman Sachs started marcus.com in the US in 2016, it has taken in more than US$20bn in deposits.
Marcus will add to the tough competition traditional UK retail banks like Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LON:LLOY), Barclays PLC (LON:BARC), Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (LON:RBS) and HSBC Holdings (LON:HSBA) are already facing from new financial technology firms.