Subscribe
Logo
Logo
  • Topics Icon Topics
    • AI Icon AI
    • Banking Icon Banking
    • Blockchain/DeFi Icon Blockchain/DeFi
    • Embedded Finance Icon Embedded Finance
    • Fraud/Identity Icon Fraud/Identity
    • Investing Icon Investing
    • Lending Icon Lending
    • Payments Icon Payments
    • Regulation Icon Regulation
    • Startups Icon Startups
  • Podcasts Icon Podcasts
  • Products Icon Products
    • Webinars Icon Webinars
    • White Papers Icon White Papers
  • TechWire Icon TechWire
  • Search
  • Subscribe
Reading
Is Marcus Going to Launch a Credit Card?
ShareTweet
Home
Peer to Peer Lending
Is Marcus Going to Launch a Credit Card?

Is Marcus Going to Launch a Credit Card?

Peter Renton·
Peer to Peer Lending
·Jan. 30, 2018·2 min read

Ainsley Harris reported in Fast Company today that Goldman Sachs is acquiring the employees who built Final, a credit card startup based in Oakland. Final offered a unique kind of credit card, one that would create a different virtual card number for every merchant, thereby reducing the risk of credit card fraud. The company announced in December that they were shutting down.

According to Fast Company:

Goldman gains about a dozen engineers and product managers with experience building a consumer finance product from scratch. When they arrive at Goldman in the spring, they will join a growing roster of consumer-oriented employees, all part of the bank’s new Consumer and Commercial Banking division.

It has been a busy couple of years for Goldman Sachs when it comes to their consumer facing business. This latest deal follows a long list of acquisitions for Goldman recently:

  1. Acquisition of GE Capital Bank – this jumpstarted GS Bank giving it a huge deposit base.
  2. Acquisition of Honest Dollar – the digital retirement savings app was acquired in March 2016.
  3. Launch of Marcus with debt consolidation loans.
  4. Acquisition of Genesis Capital – not really consumer facing but could add a real estate development arm to the bank.
  5. Bond Street – employees of the online small business lender moved to Goldman Sachs.
  6. Addition of home improvement loans to the Marcus offerings.

Marcus to Offer a Full Suite of Banking Products?

It isn’t much of a stretch now to think that Marcus is at least considering launching a credit card. Judging by this list above they are clearly looking at several different areas to grow their bank. They now have expertise in all three verticals: consumer lending, small business lending and real estate. With the addition of the employees from Final they have expertise in building a new credit card business from scratch.

Goldman has made it clear that GS Bank (soon to be called Marcus Bank) is a major initiative for the company and they have gone on the record as saying that they expect more revenue to come from lending than trading activity by 2020. Given this commitment it would only make sense that they would offer a full suite of banking products for their customers. A logical step in that journey would be to add a credit card to their offerings at some point.

Maybe this is the prototype for a 21st century bank. Acquire a large deposit base and then create or acquire various businesses to put this money to work. When you have deep pockets, like Goldman has, you don’t need to rely on outside sources of capital to get your business going. To a large extent they are in control of their own destiny and if they continue to execute well I expect they will be very successful.

  • Peter Renton
    Peter Renton

    Peter Renton is the chairman and co-founder of Fintech Nexus, the world’s largest digital media company focused on fintech. Peter has been writing about fintech since 2010 and he is the author and creator of the Fintech One-on-One Podcast, the first and longest-running fintech interview series.

    View all posts
Tags
credit cardsGoldman SachsMarcus
Related

LoanPro/Visa DPS integration provides unique credit personalization opportunities

The End of the Ill-Fated Acquisition: Goldman Sachs Offloads Greensky

Amazon joins fintech fray in Brazil with debut credit card

house of cards

Goldman bids farewell to consumer banking push

Popular Posts

Today:

  • Stylizedhouse-with-EKGFintech x the One Big Beautiful Bill Jun. 26, 2025
  • GreenliteAI-Alex-WillGreenlite AI is on a mission to revolutionize banking compliance Jun. 10, 2025
  • Email-AI-pieceAvatar CEOs Have Entered the Meeting Jun. 18, 2025
  • PayabliFunded: Payments infrastructure co Payabli lands $28M Series B to AI-ify Jun. 20, 2025
  • WP-Funded2Funded: Maze nabs $25M Series A to stop cloud breaches before they start Jun. 13, 2025
  • Gazing Into the IPO Crystal BallKlarna Now, A Deluge Later? Mar. 20, 2025
  • Vesey Ventures – Julia HuangWhy agentic AI will spark commerce’s next PayPal moment Apr. 10, 2025
  • Ben Hemani, Founding Partner at Bison VenturesThe Risk and Reward of Betting Big on AI’s Next Frontier Jun. 4, 2025
  • Ironclad State of AI ReportThe Economics of AI Trust Jun. 11, 2025
  • TechNexus The AI IssueThe AI Paradox Jun. 18, 2025

This month:

  • WP UmbrellaTo Bank or Not to Bank: The ILC Question Jun. 5, 2025
  • GreenliteAI-Alex-WillGreenlite AI is on a mission to revolutionize banking compliance Jun. 10, 2025
  • Current stablecoin adoptionWhy Banks (and Fintechs) Need to Embrace Stablecoins Today Jun. 12, 2025
  • ai-work-nexusWalkMe Vets Declare War on SaaS Bloat with $10M Seed for Autonomous Agents Jun. 10, 2025
  • Jon StonaTips from Airwallex x McLaren on Making the Best of a Fintech Sponsorship  Jun. 18, 2025
  • Ironclad State of AI ReportThe Economics of AI Trust Jun. 11, 2025
  • Email-AI-pieceAvatar CEOs Have Entered the Meeting Jun. 18, 2025
  • Globe-money-symbolsOPINION: Why Brazil and India are leading the global digital shift through payment innovation Jun. 24, 2025
  • Revised-AI-InvoiceAI Faces Skepticism. Startups Say: OK, Pay When it Works Jun. 25, 2025
  • DanMurphy-FN-headshotCFPB’s Next Open Banking Battle Begins Jun. 3, 2025

  • About
  • Contact
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
Subscribe
Copyright © 2025 Fintech Nexus
  • Topics
    • AI
    • Banking
    • Blockchain/DeFi
    • Embedded Finance
    • Fraud/Identity
    • Investing
    • Lending
    • Payments
    • Regulation
    • Startups
  • Podcasts
  • Products
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • TechWire
  • Contact Us
Start typing to see results or hit ESC to close
lis digital banking USA Lending Club UK
See all results